subject: Why Does Separation Anxiety Take Place? [print this page] Why Does Separation Anxiety Take Place? Why Does Separation Anxiety Take Place?
If you have a baby at home who is around one year old, you must have seen him or her being highly upset whenever he/she is made to be separated from the caregiver. This is a common situation, which almost every baby goes through, when they are not with their parents. At times, even going to another room and leaving them behind can be a distressful sight, as they would cry hysterically.
This is not the case with just your baby - it happens with every baby. Even then it becomes a stressful situation for the parents and the baby. Once the caregiver has a better understanding of what causes separation anxiety, one is in a better position to deal with it well.
When the baby is still too small, that is around a couple of months old, separation for a while does not turn out to be such a problem for him or her. On the other hand, during this time parents may get more saddened at being away from the child. Once the baby reaches around four to seven months of age, this is when separation becomes traumatic.
During this age, the child develops object permanence. This is a phenomenon which makes the child understand that even if an object is not visible, it still exists somewhere. In case of a few months old baby who has not developed object permanence, he or she will not look for a thing that has gone out of the vision.
You can test your 7 month old child's sense of object permanence by hiding his or her toy beneath a blanket. You will see, the child will lift the blanket up and retrieve the toy. The same goes for the case when the baby is separated from the caregiver; as he or she is aware that if they are not around, they must have left him or her alone and they should come back.
It becomes all the more difficult for babies as they have not developed an understanding of time yet. When a separation occurs, they are unaware about how long it would last for. This is why they may cry a lot and would be difficult to be calmed down.
The child's caregiver should be highly affectionate towards him or her, as this would help in the long run to build a strong bond of love and trust.
