5 1/2 month old dd screams when held by other people

[amysma]

my 5 1/2 month old dd has recently started crying hysterically when held by anyone except me or dh, including my mum who is going to look after her when i go back to work next week. she is generally fine with others (laughs / smiles) if i'm holding her when she meets them or if i'm at least in her sight. i'm not exactly sure if it is separation anxiety as she doesn't really fuss that much at home if i leave her for a few minutes as you would expect if it was separation anxiety. it seems to be an issue just with other people. it's going to make life extremely difficult if she reacts hysterically to being left with my mum next week. is this something that she will get over when she settles into the routine of going to mum's house for a few days? has anyone else ever gone thru this before?

[uwila]

I would say it sounds like separation anxiety. Could you do sort of a transition phase with your mum where she starts out say for the first week looking after her in your house. At least then she would be in familiar surroundings.

[zubb]

If you are out of sight how long does it take for her to calm down?
Ds2 was like this for a while but it was as he learned that it would get me back. If I left for a couple of minutes he'd merrily just get on with it when he realised that I wasn't there to upset.

[amysma]

well, the funny thing is that we spend practically every day in my mum's house with her and have done since dd was born !! she actually sees my mum more than she sees my dh or her own house ! up until about 2 weeks ago she was great with my mum. she had a meningitis scare about 2 weeks ago and had to have a very traumatic blood sample taken in hospital - 3 men had to pin her to a bed for an hour to get the blood and they had to try both feet, both hands and both wrists. i'm convinced that this has traumatised her and made her so clingy to me. it doesn't help though that my poor mum is going to have to listen to her scream for hours on end come next week.

[amysma]

zubb, we left her with dh's mum on mon and went for lunch. she was a registered childminder for years and so you would think she had seen it all. she had to ring us to the restaurant after 1 hour as dd was still hysterical and didn't even show signs of calming down.

[marne]

Had the same with my dd, shes 1 now and almost anyone can hold her as long as im in the room. Hopefully its just a stege they go throug!

[amysma]

marne, did you not have to go back to work then? where did you leave her / who with if you did?