(Sorry this is a long post) My son is 16 months and just started daycare a week ago, I went with him for a few days and stayed with him for a couple hours each day. On his 3rd and 4th day I left him for an hour and half, he was fine and barely even noticed I was gone. On the fifth day, I walked him into the room and took of his coat and he absolutely lost it, clung to me and was screaming to the point he could barely breathe eventually one of the ladies pried him from my arms and I said good bye and left, I came back after a few hours and he seemed ok, they said he cried on and off, and at first refused to eat but eventually he found a spot on the floor by a desk and they were able to give him some food.

The next day, as soon as we got to his cubby he started crying, and eventually if escalated into the screaming and unable to catch his breathe, I handed him to the lady and said goodbye and left, they messaged me later to tell me that he was doing great, and he was sitting at the table eating with everyone else! I was so proud sin d he’d been refusing to eat anything at all while there I was excited thinking this was actually going to get better...

well, boy was I wrong.. it seems as now my son has developed extreme separation anxiety, he freaks out and starts to cry uncontrollably if I leave the room and he can’t see me, my husband can’t even touch him or he flips out, he won’t eat unless I’m holding him, I can’t even go to the bathroom unless he’s on my lap, or he loses his mind, when I try to put him to sleep he clings to me and I have to pry his hands off my clothes to put him in his crib, if I put him in his car seat he starts to cry and clings to me and I have to pry him off me.

He’s always been a mommas boy but I’ve been able to leave him with family or my husband without any issues. Now my husband can’t even take him outside to play if I’m not there he freaks out. He used to be such an outgoing boy while we were out in town he’d wave to everyone and smile, not if anyone even looks at him and god forbid they talk to him he starts to cry and clings to me.

It takes a long time to calm him down when he’s upset and once he is calm there is no way I can put him down, he will lose it again.

I don’t know what to do, do I stop daycare? do I go back to staying with him again? should I hold off for a few days before we go back and try again? Do I keep leaving him there even though this is creating problems at home?

I haven’t gone back to work yet as I wanted to make sure he was adjusted to daycare first, but eventually I will have to go back to work.

Has anyone dealt with this issue before? Does this sound normal?