Over the last couple of months, Chloe's been getting more and more clingy and more shy around people she doesn't know, she used to be ok around other kids, but now I can't take her to a soft play without her crying her eyes out and asking to go home, and the second we're outside she's fine, and now it's adults too, even one's she knows. My brother popped in early this morning and she sees him a couple of times a month I guess and she clung on for dear life for 10 minutes, burying her head in my neck and refusing to look at him, then later on in the morning while I was at work, she was at my mums and a man came round to fix my mum's OH scooter and she hid in the kitchen and was physically shaking with fear until he left.

I don't know what to do, part of me thinks if I force the issue it's going to make it worse, but it's turning into a complete nightmare. She's fine with the people she sees all the time, like her nannies, then there are some people that she hardly ever sees that she loves, but everyone else she's terrified

Any help much appreciated

Not much help hun, except to say its a stage lots of lil uns go through,
Just be patient with her, she has just realised its a big scary world out there thats all
XxXx

Pay as little attention to it as possible. Don't fuss her when she is behaving like this because that will convince her there is something to fear.

Just reassure her in a calm way that everything is fine and she is being silly then get on with things as normal. She will probably grow out of it fairly quickly.

Aw mandy bless her. C has spates of being a shy girl too. She went thru an awfu phase of it a few months ago and its taken time for her to improve. Id say i partly agree with Gill but not totally. I think calm reassurance is the way to go but i wudnt say shes being silly. Just explain you know its scary but shes ok cos mummy or daddy is there and she is safe. I found with soft play or gym the easiest way with c was to join in at 1st so i climbed all over the soft play with her or joined in the gym then once she was comfy gradually withdrew and let her do her own thing but stayed in a place she could see me and she seemed to settle. As for being funny with ppl she knows C does this with her granddads quite a lot and my sister for some reason. We dont push it hard by making her hug them etc but they are inthe vicinity while we play and we include them in what we are doing til she relaxes. Shes now gone from screaming at the sight of my sister to running up the drive screaming to cuddle her so it passes in time. Good luck. I still regularly get tantrums off her in the supermarket cos a stranger says hi to her

Aw, bless. Oliver's the complete opposite tbh. But I agree with Gill and Mario in the respect as not to make to much of a fuss. I'd probably do as Mario said and join in with her at 1st until she feels comfortable enough to go it alone (so to speak).

Does she go to many groups or have contact with other LO's much?

thanks ladies, I'm trying not to make a fuss of it, but I'm not always with her as I'm at work every morning and I'm not sure how she's being handled when I'm not with her. She doesn't have masses of interaction with other children as she stays with either my mum or MIL when I'm at work in the mornings, then I try and take her to a softplay or playgroup a couple of times a week in the afternoons.

One of the things I am considering is putting her into nursery for maybe a day a week from September to see if it helps, I'm just wary of making it worse though