Looks like we are starting stranger anxiety already! Breanna has had the chance to meet several "new" people in the past week or two, and it hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. Men seem to scare her the most, but it still takes her a while to warm up to women as well. I'm holding and talking to her while the new person interacts with her, then making sure she can see me when that person is holding her. I try not to rush to grab her if/when she starts to cry, but I'll talk to her and touch her to reassure her. If it doesn't work after a few minutes I'll take her and we start again. I've had the most success with that method, but it's hard to see her so scared/upset when it's a family member that has her. I'm worried that family will be hard for a while, because they're all out of town, so we don't see them very often. Do any of you have anything that has worked well to tackle this issue?
Despite the new fear, Breanna did great this weekend while meeting lots of new people! We went to Frankfort, KY to see Breanna's cousin Amy be baptised, and then we went to Morehead, KY to celebrate her cousin Evan's 2nd birthday. We had a great time at both, and I'm very thankful we got to spend time with family!
1 comments:
My advice would be just to give her many experiences where she's around other people. Our families both live far away too... usually I fouund that Alex would warm up fairly quickly on each visit, but it was a while before he really remembered them between visits. As for when she cries with "strangers", I would say just to remember "out of sight, out of mind". If she doesn't see you right there and "available" to be the one holding her, she's more apt to be happier with someone else. Even if just for a few minutes, leave the room and let the family member or friend calm her down/distract her. I bet you'll be surprised how quickly she becomes happy again :) With you leaving her with them some, she'll also learn to trust that you will always come back :) Nathan hasn't hit this phase yet, but I wonder if it'll be worse with him since he's not in daycare like Alex was, we'll see!
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