I’m a Mommy Sandwich. I have 2 one year old girls straddling each of my legs. Mouths are open like little birds chanting “ma-ma-ma” as they both bounce and push to get closer to Mommy. Oh-how-wonderful, and oh-how-sweet-it- is. Oh, am I ever going to get anything done?
Separation Anxiety. Our Married With Twins family embarked on an 8 hour road trip to visit our Texas family for Thanksgiving. I needed to start packing early, so I asked my mom, a.k.a Lola, to babysit the girls while I pack. Once I pried them from my legs and left the room, I had to hide from the girls. If they saw me, they erupted into tears if I wasn’t headed their way.
Lola herded the girls to the living room as I discreetly roamed the back bedrooms packing. I grabbed my handy packing list and started loading our suitcase. The sounds of “ma-ma-ma-ma” drifted through the walls. I must confess, I only lasted 30 minutes, then I headed back to the living room to play with my girls.
Ah, into the arms of babes I come.
I read on Baby Center that separation anxiety begins at 10 months and can continue all the way to 2 years of age. Dear Lord, please say it will end soon.
Question: Got any tips to survive your baby’s separation anxiety?
related posts: Baby Packing List, Can’t Leave Home Without it, Our First Road Trip: Packing for Four
Married With Twins 
Patience my dear. Actually, what you did was perfect. You left them in a safe, familiar environment for a short amount of time. When you come back, they start learning to know that you will come back. Start small and gradually progress to bigger blocks of time. Maybe leave them at someone else’s house for 15 minutes to start and gradually increasing. I hope that makes sense to you. And did I mention patience?
Thank you! That is very good advice. I’ll have to do that more often and train them to trust Mommy is coming back. Patience. Yes, need more patience. 🙂 Thank you so much for your encouragement and suggestion. I appreciate all the words of wisdom i can get!
We all need a little encouragement sometimes and I prefer to call them words of experience rather than wisdom! 🙂
Amen!
Beautiful girls!
Thank you!
Your girls are gorgeous! My children always had separation anxiety from me. Now, of course my 11 and 7 year old do not but my 5,4 and 1 year old still do! I just charged it to them being spoiled, but it is pretty frustration that they cry when I go to the store etc.
Thanks for the compliment! Okay, so there’s hope as they get older. I’m thankful today that only one of them is really clingy this week. 🙂
Your girls are so cute! The separation anxiety will pass before you know it! I promise. How wonderful that your mom is able to help you too! Mom’s are the best!
Thanks for your encouragement. Yes, I’m super blessed to have my mom close by. Toodles!
We’re kind of going through a bit of this now. I find that having a cue that you’re going (for us it’s waving) helps them understand that you’re going but (like the last time you waved) you will be back. It’s got better than the times when I couldn’t stand up without having them burst into tears.
Good advice. We just started waving recently. BTW, no one is teething this week so it’s much better!