Momma's Girl - please give me advice!!!

[snowangel182]

Hey everyone - I've been off the boards for a few months now but I need some advice! My sweet 5 month old daughter loves her momma and screams like crazy when others try to hold her. She's fine if they just play with her - talk to her etc...but doesn't want to be held by anyone but me. I'm ok with it. But I'm going to stay with family for a month and they are very non-attachment parenting etc and will be giving me crap about it non-stop. Can I help my lo like (or at least get used to) being held by others? I would love advice!

[tzs]

not much advice but it's totally not an AP thing to have a shy, attached baby. it's really just a normal baby thing.
what helped for me when dd went through a very brief mommy-only phase was if grams or gramps was going to hold her i would stand right by her and we would both talk to her.
the other strange thing was that during this stint, she was perfectly fine being held by other kids. our friends had an 8 year-old daughter and she could grab her from me and take her anywhere and her 7 year old brother could also lug her around and she'd dangle there happily. i dunno....

[Bokonon]

Separation anxiety is a common baby thing, AP or not. I don't know that there is a way to get a baby to like being held by others if they just flat out don't. My baby absolutely will not stand to be held by my mom, which is heartbreaking for my mom, but we don't force it and someday she will come around!

[Norasmomma]

It's a baby thing, not an AP thing and it's totally normal.

It's weirder to have a baby like my DD was who loved everyone, my FIL was always worried because she was so friendly. In DH's family there are tons of kids and there have been many a shy baby, my one BIL's kids have all been shy babies.

My son is a mama's boy, he's getting better. It was really bad around 6 months. Now he'll let DH take care of him more because I work 3 nights a week.

[MusicianDad]

Anytime it comes up just say "Sorry but she will only let me hold her and since I'm the mama, I make the call!"

And yes, repeat ad nauseum if you need to. Eventually they should get tired of hearing it and let it go. At 5 months she has the instinct to stay as close to mom as possible at all time for safety.

[Beauchamp]

"Sometimes it's just gotta be mama!" is what I said to "those" people.

Or, if they wouldn't back off I said something like "I don't think *you'd* be comfortable walking into a room full of strangers and being required to run up and hug all of them, would you? Give her some space and when she's ready she'll let you know."

[snowangel182]

Thanks that makes me feel much better! People always make comments like "well if you didn't hold her so much she'd be better off" and other such things which made me think they were blaming it on the fact that I sling her while i'm cooking / laundry etc...
I feel better knowing its just a baby thing and not just my baby!