The banker's been out of town since Monday. Overall Baby Tae has been a good little baby for me. Sleeping well, eating well, doing everything well..... the first two days. Yesterday, I noticed something a little peculiar. When I disappear from his sight, he cries. He'll play in his gym, roll around on the floor, chew on a toy like a baby BUT the minute I leave of the room or disappear from his sight, he cries. Wails. Screams. I tested this new social change a few times and YUP he's definitely in his co-dependent stage. Does it with dad too.
So I read up on this new baby stage. Turns out it's normal and we can expect it to stop around 15 months. OK. So for almost another year, we can just expect Baby Tae to behave this way. Yea, I don't think so. Also looked up coping or curing this new social behavior. I need to reassure him that it's ok when I leave his sight. I'll have to work on "reassuring" him, starting asap. I need to go to the bathroom and stuff and I don't want him me in the commode with me.
About Me
- "Tae's Mom"
- Golden, Colorado
- Political Scientist, Married to Banker, Mommy to Baby Tae!
Where the West Live
Snow in May?
2 comments:
I've heard that it is because babies don't quite understand the concept of someone still existing when they can't see them.
Literally, he thinks you have disappeared instead of just going to the other room - it's like they haven't developed that sense of awareness yet.
almostchef, that theory's been somewhat discarded. It goes back (at least) to Piaget's ideas regarding "object permanence" and his view that it's a late developing concept for children.
There have been more recent studies (I don't have the references to hand, but I'm sure I could find them) have shown (or at least argued) that even young infants are rather adept at understanding object permanence (including human permanence).
More likely, it's a social testing mechanism ("what happens if I scream? Will she come back? ... oh yeah, I like having control over my world... do it again, mommy, come back again").
So, we reinforce the behavior. It's just a question of our tolerance as parents. Which is worse, tolerating the screams for however long it'd take to break the habit (maybe a very long time) or simply caving in?
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