Demanding 1 year old.

[pinklady80]

Hi all, I care for three 1 year olds, all girls not related, however one of them has become very jealous and clingy. She follows me around the house(crawling) clawing at my legs for me to pick her up. The moment I pick her up she stops crying, the moment I put her down she starts again. I can't pop out of the room to grab wipes, or pee, or anything because she cries uncontrollably. If she is sat on the floor and another baby goes near her she starts crying uncontrollably like she is petrified of them. It has got to the point now where I have had to contact the parents to arrange an appointment to try and resolve the matter as she is now upsetting the other children and gets herself in such a state all she does is sleep and cry. She has a miserable existence at the moment. I have tried comforting her and I have tried ignoring the behaviour. I have a meeting with the parents on Friday and I would like to be able to have a plan of action but I don't know where to start. Please help! Many thanks.

[Rick]

I had this exact thing. She had to be sitting with me or being held to stop crying. She would follow me around the house and have to be right next to me the whole time. It was tiring! She has very recently started to be ok with me leaving the room and going off by herself to play. I think it's partly due to now being able to walk, perhaps she knows she can now get to me easily and is not so worried about moving away from me.

Does the child walk or not?

[pinklady80]

No but she's quite a nifty little crawler. I was hoping she would grow out of it but it's been going on for a good couple of months now. She seems to be getting worse, I can't even have a conversation with another parent where she can see me because we can't hear ourselves I've asked mum to contact their health visitor to see if they can suggest anything.

[Rick]

Mindee started in February and has only now started to allow me to leave the room and play without me being right next to her. It can take time to settle children in but I always felt she would be fine if I just stuck with it!

[Kaybeaa]

I have the exact same problem. Mindee been with me since 5 months old and is now almost one and is incredibly clingy. It does get to the point where I ignore him or I carry him continuously. Neither of them ideal situations to be honest. At toddler groups he literally clings to me like a monkey and cries if anyone tries to come close. It's draining. I was hoping he'd grow out of it when he started crawling but now he just follows me crying. No advice I'm afraid but just to let you know it's fairly common I think and you're not alone xx

[ziggy]

I had same with the two 1 year olds, so i tried whenever possible to sit on playroom floor with them. It took a couple of weeks but once they knew i wasnt going to run off and leave them they settled. As they both weigh over 25lbs each they was no way I could carry them around.

[Nickidela]

This is happening with my 1 year old mindee as well. It's so tiring, but I see when parents/grandparents collect her - she just expects to be picked up and they do. It's hard work when I have the 3 x 1 year olds together. At 5 months pregnant too I physically can't be picking her up all the time. I'm hoping it's something she'll grow out of too but I'm sure it would happen quicker if those at home would resist the urge to pick up on demand.

[pinklady80]

Thanks everyone. I have met with parents today and we have a plan. Mum is going to sleep with a blanket so it has her smell and we're going to do a photo album of mum and dad. Mum and dad have also said they won't pick her up immediately when she cries at home watch this space...