My baby cries with joy??? :) (babies, parent, playing, child)

[glass_of_merlot]

My now 9 month old baby is very attached to me. She does fine with other people when I drop her off, but when i come to pick her up again she looks at me, smiles and starts to cry? She holds her arms up towards me and cries. Moments earlier she was happy.
Any of you know why she would act like that?

[BirdieBelle]

Mine did that for a while.

It's like they remember, "Oh, yeah, you left me here!" They get a bit overwhelmed with emotion.

But the teacher always said they were totally fine while I was gone.

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

Mine did that for a while.

It's like they remember, "Oh, yeah, you left me here!" They get a bit overwhelmed with emotion.

But the teacher always said they were totally fine while I was gone.

Lol, yeah, I was thinking that too.

[hypocore]

Yep, it is the 'out of sight out of mind' developmental phase. If I don't see you I don't miss you, basically. That's why a parent may drop off a child and they are crying, yet stop outside the door and hear that it has stopped either immediately or very soon after. Same goes for afternoons. You can see them playing and having a great time then when they see you they fall apart.

Some babies do this even with mom leaving them behind with dad while mom goes shopping or whatever. They cry at being left behind, but are just fine with dad until mom gets back. Or vice versa if dad is the main caregiver.

The next phase is when they do realize you are out there somewhere and may cry for longer periods of time until they decide things are just fine as they are or they cry intermittently throughout the day. That phase some kids skip entirely, others it is for a very short duration and with some it seems it will never end.

It's all very normal.

[glass_of_merlot]

^ thats good to know