My grand daughter is 9 months old and is experiencing anxiety around strangers which I know is fairly common. That is fine, but it is also with family and friends whom she doesn't have daily contact with. Does anyone have any suggestions for helping her become more comfortable around friends and family who she isn't around as much as mom, dad, us (grand parents) and siblings. We want her to relax a little and let other people enjoy her when they visit, but she lets herself get so upset, it is hard to calm her down. Any other experiences with this and how did you deal with it? It has been so long since mine were little and I like to give my daughter the best advice I can, but I forget how we dealt with this, or if we even had to. She is such a sweet, happy, well adjusted baby and we want other family and friends to see this side of her not the crying, fearful side they see when they visit.
She might be shy. I would ask others to leave her alone until she can warm up to them. She should be held by family that she is comfortable around and so she will remain calm while others are visiting. I'm sure that she will feel the positive energy and calmness and then her actions will reflect that. I would not push her onto what she considers "a stranger".
I think it is normal for babies this age to go thru this behavior. My son has been like this from birth and he is now 15 months old. I just hold him when we go to parties where there are a lot of people, my in-laws, (my husband has a HUGE family) and I hold him until he wants down. That way I know he is comfortable, and if people want to hold him I just say no, because he like your grand daughter, will cry and cry and he is hard to calm down. So go with your gut, just hold her and let people talk to her, but not get in her personal space, people have a tendency to do that with babies and not all like it. She will grow out of it eventually, but just enjoy her now and embrace her!
Good Luck!
M.
My son is the same age and has the same reaction to "strangers" which is normal and fine! :) Just let her hang out for a while (in the security of your or her parents arms) and warm up to people at her own pace. I have noticed that when people approach my son right away - no matter how pure their intentions - he will cry and cling to me. It took him 2 whole days to warm up to my mom when we visited. We waited until HE approached HER; that way we knew he trusted her and all was OK in his world. They are still babies learning about the world around them...who they can and can't trust. I'm sure it'll all turn around soon enough. :)
