The term for the distress displayed by infants when a customary care provider departs is called “stranger anxiety.” Stranger anxiety is a natural phenomenon that most children eventually outgrow. It’s common for an infant to be shy or reluctant around new people, and will often cry at their departure. However, if your baby continues to show signs of distress after five minutes, it might not just be stranger anxiety they’re feeling.
A few things you can try with your child are:
holding them close while the visitor rubs their back; walking away from them together in the direction of the home so they see where you’re going and know what’s happening; distracting them with toys or snacks as soon as they interact well with someone who visits regularly; reading aloud books about meeting new friends who make him feel happy (though note this might not work if your child is too young to understand).
Additional Resources:
video excerpt of an infant with stranger anxiety. This can be found on the ABC website (link provided) and should last about three minutes in length. It shows a seven-month-old baby named Emma who, when her father leaves the room, cries and holds onto him for comfort until he returns. The article also offers links to other resources that might help you learn more or address this issue at home; these are included below:
The Just Right Parenting blog post “Stranger Anxiety” (link given) discusses strategies for helping children overcome their fears around strangers, including gradually exposing them so they get used to new people before anything scary happens. They offer advice on how to make a child feel comfortable in new situations, including giving them the chance to have some control over their surroundings.
The American Academy of Pediatrics’s “Stranger Anxiety” article (link provided) discusses ways that parents can help kids get through this fearful phase and offers advice for common triggers such as grandparents or other relatives with whom children might not share a close bond. They also suggest fostering relationships between adults who are part of a little one’s life by having them interact in fun and safe settings like playgroups where they’ll learn more about each other if given enough time together. With guidance from experts, it is possible to help infants overcome stranger anxiety!
The term for the distress displayed by infants when a customary care provider departs is called stranger anxiety. Stranger anxiety occurs in children from 12-18 months old, and it has been found to be genetically influenced. It also happens that this type of fear can develop as early as six months or even earlier if they have experienced other traumatic events before such as abuse or neglect. There are many reasons why the separation may trigger sorrowful feelings in an infant with some being linked to attachment style while others might stem from more complex psychological issues related to abandonment fears.
Currently, there’s no treatment available but through various treatments, parents can help their children work on comforting themselves which will lessen their stress levels during separations. For example, parental guidance can alleviate the separation anxiety felt by children.
Parental guidance can also be helpful in lessening a child’s stress levels during separations. For instance, parents should talk to their children about why they’re being left and reassure them that it’s not because of anything they have done wrong or any wrongdoing on their part. Parents should also tell their little one when he/she will see him again and engage with them as much as possible while apart through video chat or phone calls so that there is some consistency for the young ones who are still developing this sense of security in themselves.
As mentioned before, parental guidance can help lessen a child’s distress level during separations if handled correctly which is what you want your child to remember when they grow up.
A child’s distress level during separations can be managed by following the correct parental guidance. For instance, when a child is being left their parents should reassure them and talk to them about why they are leaving — not just for any wrongdoing on his or her part but also tell him/her when he will see again in addition to engaging with them as much as possible while apart through video chat or phone calls so that there’s some consistency for the young ones who are still developing this sense of security in themselves.
This type of reassurance helps lessen a child’s stress levels because they know that it won’t last forever. Parental guidance can help teach children how to manage those moments of separation anxiety which will teach them how to be more independent and allow them to have a better chance for developing healthy relationships with other adults later on in life.
