Shy baby?

lgleyze

My DD is almost 6 months and is scared of new people, including her grandparents (DH's parents) who haven't really made an effort to be a part of her life so far. They've visited us a total of 3 times since she was born, even though we live 15 minutes away, although they visit their other grandchildren, who live and hour away every week (I'm a little bitter.) Every time we see them at a family function and they try to hold her, her lower lip pops out and she cries and reaches for me. Every time, and I can tell it hurts their feelings. My MIL has made the comment that I should let her watch her so that DD will get over her fear of them. MIL has a lot of baby experience, so I know she would be well taken care of, but I'm not really comfortable with leaving my baby with someone she is so clearly uncomfortable with, afraid of, even. It'd probably be good for her to be away from me, though, so I don't know what to do. What would you do? And does anyone else have a shy LO? I'm afraid my homebody ways are affecting her negatively.

tracy41

Have you tried letting them hold her and leaving the room and giving them a chance with her without you hovering? Most babies have some stranger and/or separation anxiety but get over it quickly especially if mom isn't standing right there. And a lot of people feel silly trying to get the baby to stop crying while mom is watching and judging. My advice is try handing her off and taking a break. You might be surprised.

MrsWindyCity

DS1 was the same way. It was awful around 7-8 months especially, and that's when Thanksgiving/Christmas was. I felt so terrible because everyone just wanted to see him and hold him, etc. and he wanted NOTHING to do with either of our families. Honestly, there was not much we could do. We did tell our families to sort of back off - not in a mean way, but basically asked them not to smother him, or keep trying to hold him, etc. and just let him get acclimated, saying he would open up more in his own time. We noticed he was less  upset around the people who were just very calm and chill vs. those who were constantly trying to get his attention and overeager.

He was still pretty bad at a year, and then just started getting better. Now, he LOVES every member of both of our families and gets SO excited to visit or when they come, even the ones he doesn't see very often. It's tough, I know.