At the end of November I will be back at work, and our baby will be 10 months old.

We have decided to take him to a nursery instead of a childminder as we want him to mix with lots of children to build his confidence etc. My partner’s mother has offered to look after him whilst I’m at work but she doesn’t live close by, plus our baby won’t be mixing with children, nor learning.

Baby is completely fine with me, his father, and his grandparents, but if he is held by someone else (even someone he knows) he screams and frantically searches for me, he’s even worse if I am not in the room. He is breastfed, and completely refuses the bottle unless his dad is feeding him, and still then he doesn’t feed much.

I’m just worried how he will be at a nursery with strangers, and I won’t be able to go straight to him. I know it is a learning process but does anybody have any anecdotes of how long it took their babies to settle with strangers?

Thank you.