I was reading a post today by the lovely Eline at Pasta & Patchwork about how her 3 year old (affectionately known as the Bean) has been going through some separation anxiety as she gears up for a work trip away from home. It made me think about this post I wrote back in April about Toby’s nursery wobbles and I thought it was about time I wrote an update.

We’ve had a few more ups and downs since April but happily things seem to be settling down a lot now. There haven’t been any more staff changes at nursery recently and Toby appears to have got used to the new people. I’m sure it also helps that all his teeth have now come through, and eventually we got his awful nappy rash cleared up too.

There are still some days when he cries as I’m leaving but we aren’t having the same drama just getting his shoes on and into the car. Usually if there is something to distract him as soon as he arrives at nursery (a ball or balloons are sure fire winners here) then I can leave without so much of a shout. Sometimes he’s so distracted he doesn’t even say goodbye but often I get a wave accompanied by an enthusiastic ‘Die!’ (yeah, we need to work on that one!) or his new party trick which is blowing a kiss.

Toby is still eating everything they put in front of him at nursery (although hardly putting on any weight – should I be worried about that?). His naps have got even better too and he usually sleeps for about two hours in the afternoon.

Sleeping at night has improved too. We still have some nights when he won’t go to sleep unless I stay in the room, or nights when he wakes up, and frustratingly when he does wake up he tends to take ages to get back to sleep. Last night I ended up sleeping on his bedroom floor from half two until half three because he just stood up and started crying whenever I left the room. But on the whole he sleeps through a lot more than he doesn’t so I can cope with that. We’re also trying to do away with his bedtime bottle at the moment because I think at nearly two he really doesn’t need a bottle any more. We’ve started giving him milk in a cup when he gets in from nursery instead and then he has the hour or so before bed time to drink it.

So, although things still aren’t perfect they’re a big improvement from where they were a few months ago. Hopefully Toby will stay settled at nursery – we’re going to keep him going every day until after the baby is born so he has some stability and doesn’t have to deal with lots of changes all at once. He will be moving to part time in the Autumn but we’ve not decided exactly what days and hours that will be yet. I just hope he stays happy and we don’t go back to the days of screaming and crying every time he gets dropped off.

If your little one is having wobbles about nursery or other separation anxiety then, as hard as it is at the time just try to remember…