MSE Parent Club

SeptemberBaby_2

Well I never!

Thanks Welshlassie and PP.

Becles

Has anyone's baby gone through a clingy stage?

Charlotte got loads of my attention on holiday. It was all-inclusive, so I had no cooking, cleaning, or anything to do, and she got much more attention.

Now we're back home, she still gets plenty of time with me as I play on the floor with her, read books to her, watch TV together, and she likes going on dog walks and grocery shopping trips etc., when we chat about stuff we can see.

However, I can't give her 100% of my attention all of the time. When I'm at home, I need to do housework, cooking etc., and I don't like her climbing on me when I'm drinking a cup of coffee. She'll be fine playing on the floor with me, but the minuteI stand up to go and do something else, she cries. I'll do things like put toys on the kitchen floor and get her interested, then stand up to wash the dishes and she's crying and hanging on my legs, even though I'm talking or singing to her, so she has some of my attention.

If I leave the house, my husband says she screams the place down and yells "aaaahhh no,no,no,no,no,no,no" which is what she does when she doesn't like something. My Mam has just collected her as I'm off to work in a minute and she does the same thing then.

Has anyone got any tips on how I can stop her doing this, as it's breaking my heart leaving her crying, but I can't be with her and give her 100% attention 24/7.

Dormouse

I know what you mean Becles, Alex is quite clingy too - has been for quite a few weeks now, and as you said, it's always worse after holidays. :rolleyes:

I don't really have an answer... The only thing that helps me a bit is knowing that there are times when he's even more likely to be clingy, e.g. when tired. Usually when he's well rested and not hungry he will sit and play by himself for a bit. Also, the old giving him a snack trick sometimes helps - I give him a whole pear (peeled) when I'm doing the dinner, that keeps him busy for a while (very messy though). :rotfl:

Not sure what to do about leaving the house though. Alex usually screams when I leave the room/house too, but is distracted reasonably easily.



I thought everyone uses the User CP option? It's very handy to keep track of the threads I've posted in. I don't receive email notifications, but go to User CP first thing when I log on to MSE. It's very good. :cool:

Oh, we finally have a tooth, at the grand old age of 9.5 months! :T :j

SeptemberBaby_2

Dormouse wrote: »

I thought everyone uses the User CP option? It's very handy to keep track of the threads I've posted in. I don't receive email notifications, but go to User CP first thing when I log on to MSE. It's very good. :cool:

Nope, everyone else must have done the advanced tutorial bar me! :rotfl:. I simply log on and, as I don't have that many fingers in that many pies, just look at the threads I'm interested in .

And congrats, Alex, on your first tooth! :j

x

heather38

the clingyness passes then comes back ! sorry, kennedy is really clingy at the moment, she's 19 months and really hates being left alone, i can't even go to the loo.
she's also started throwing tantrums if she wants something, it's hard as i'm nearly 6 months pregnant and she kicks out. like yesterday, we went shopping and she didn't want to stay in the pram, if i tried to put her in she would scream at the top of her voice. as you can tell i'm looking forward to the terrible 2's !!

SusanC_2

I found Alice needed more direct attention just after we got back on holiday but as it was not quite so extreme, I just indulged her and she seems to have gone back to normal now. The main thing I did was to try to engage her in an activity with me which I knew she enjoyed which she wasn't already doing at that particular time (e.g. read a book to her, get the jigsaws out, play some music, play rolling the ball to each other) and usually she would either become absorbed in the activity and not be bothered about how close I was or just forget that she hadn't been happy and move onto another activity. Hope that makes sense - it sounds more complicated when I try to describe it. Also, Alice got some stickle bricks for her birthday so I keep them in the kitchen and only give them to her in the highchair. They're good because there's enough of them that even if she throws/drops lots on the floor, she's still got plenty to play with so they work quite well.

Dormouse

Ooh, just seen your sig about Jon Bon, SB! How exciting, bet you can't wait! :j

Lu_T

Nope, not just you Sept Baby. I didn't know any of that about subscriptions either!

Gotta go now, but will try to make time to PM those people, when I can track them down.

cha97michelle

Hi everyone.

Thought i would have a catch up with you all and see how you are getting on, as its been a while again.

We are doing ok but getting a bit sleep deprived. Sam is now nearly 6 weeks, and a very content little thing. BFing is now going a lot better, although we alternate between feeding every 3-4 hours with then feeding every 1-2 hours, so my body doesn't know where it is half the time, so i sympathise snaggles with your soreness. I'm sure we will settle a bit soon.

Charlie has been rather clingy with both me and his daddy, I thought it was from feeling a bit left out, but seems though so many of us are experiencing it, perhaps it is more a stage for this age - nearly 20 months here. He is particularly bad when i drop him off at nursery on a tuesday, and he has been reluctant to leave my side when we have gone to playgroups. He was a bit better at one yesterday because my nephew was there too, so i am hoping he will grow out of it soon. I have been pandering to it a bit and playing more with him, and also trying to distract him with other toys/games.

Also, has anyone else's kid suddenly decided to be really food fussy? Charlie has been really good till now at eating, but he either refuses and says he wants to play, or just nibbles a bit then says all done. I am getting fed up of making food and binning it, but i will keep persevering with family favourites.

Anyway, best get back to it. Nice to see you around again bailey and that you are now enjoying it as you should be. I have to say, it is a lot easier for me too this time, and i am sure it is the time of year i had Sam so my mood is not as low and DH is not as busy at work, and also you are not in shock, we know what is coming.

Michelle, x

purplepatch

cha97michelle wrote: »

Charlie has been rather clingy with both me and his daddy, I thought it was from feeling a bit left out, but seems though so many of us are experiencing it, perhaps it is more a stage for this age - nearly 20 months here.

Izzy at almost exactly the same age is also going through a clingy stage and nothing in our routine has changed. We've noticed it for a couple of weeks now and she has also recently started getting terribly upset when I put her to bed of an evening. I find it so much harder to leave her crying now she is older - they seem to mean it so much more at this age than the random crying when they are tiny, she's half hanging out of the cot, reaching out to me begging for a 'guddle' as she calls it. The crying has only been lasting 10 minutes, but it is horrible.

Also I've noticed that at our music class where she has always relished being picked up by the teacher, the last couple of weeks she has started to cry when she's cuddled her.... looking at me like she desperately wants rescuing :rolleyes:

Isn't it funny that they are all getting this at the same sort of age.

Anyway, nice to hear from you Michelle (and Bailey) and glad everything is going well with you.