Separation anxiety is a common developmental period that children may experience to different degrees, depending on their age. Psychologists consider the stage a healthy one for children, since it indicates a healthy attachment between the child and parent. If and when your child develops separation anxiety, there are things you can do to make this process easier for the child and yourself. There are also things to watch out for that might indicate an unhealthy anxiety.
Characteristics
At the infant stage, children may cling to parents more and become more irritable. Changes to routine and schedule may be more disruptive and difficult to tolerate. Children will become upset and cry when their parents are gone for long periods or even short periods when they leave the room.
Age Differences
According to BabyCenter, children can develop signs of separation anxiety as early as 6 months of age. The peak period for developing separation anxiety, though, tends to be 12 to 18 months. The severity of separation anxiety can vary from day to day, but most children's separation anxiety fades between ages 2 or 3. Your children also may suffer from separation anxiety at night if they sleep in a room separate from the parents.
Helping Your Baby
Several approaches can be used to handle separation anxiety. The first is to simply reduce the amount of time a child spends away from the parents. This doesn't acclimate your child to the separation, but it does help you wait out the phase by reducing the occurrences of anxiety. Leaving your child with familiar people such as family members can reduce the degree of separation anxiety, since these people will be familiar to the baby. You also can leave your child with people he is not familiar with, but you should spend time with the baby and the stranger so that your child can connect you to that person. Even so, crying or irritability is likely to happen.
Considerations
Some separation anxiety can be extreme and unhealthy for a child. This is defined as separation anxiety disorder. It is marked by severe, constant separation anxiety that interferes with your baby's normal routine. Physical developments such as headaches, abdominal pain and nausea are warning signs of a disorder. An anxious child's inability to be consoled for two weeks at a time also can indicate a problem. Contact your doctor or a child psychologist to discuss these developments and learn more about what is affecting your child.
