Yesterday the weirdest thing happened, a lovely waitress at art cafe was saying hi to Olive, as people usually do, and instead of greeting the lady with a big smile or at least studying her a bit as Olive usually does, O quickly turned her head and rested it on my collar bone in between my shoulder, neck and cheek, and hugged me tight, as if maybe a bit scared or just not wanting to be passed on to the lady as per usual. It was so strange for O to do that because she is so happy to see people and even to be held by anyone that I actually had to call my mum to make sure, you know, everything’s ok! My mum reassured me that Olive is fine and she’s just getting to that age where she starts recognising that people are strangers and it will take some time, I also ran into a friend of mine on the way out who said exactly the same thing.
That along with some articles i’ve been reading has me feeling a lot better about it!
#Milestone
P.s some of what I’ve read:
What’s going on? Your baby is suffering from stranger anxiety. Although he may once have been fine with being passed around at a party, he’s now aware of whom he does and doesn’t know. The ability to distinguish you from someone unfamiliar is a developmental leap forward (and you should try to explain this to your in-laws so they don’t take it personally).
Get past it: Help your child warm up gradually to strangers until this phase passes, which is usually around 15 months.
Mama Olive 