Separation

Infants and toddlers normally go through phases of separation anxiety. Those that are used to being in a constant environment tend to experience it more. Scarlett has been in daycare since she was about 4 months old. And it has been the same daycare ever since she started. She really loves it there and knows all her playmates. However, we still go through occasional periods of separation anxiety when I drop her off. These periods haven't really started until she was about 1.5 years old. Mondays are usually the worst and are the most likely days when it would happen. After spending four days straight with me (since she goes Mon-Wed), she tends to get upset on Monday mornings when I drop her off. She's usually fine until she gets to the door of her daycare room. Then she gets very clingy and doesn't want to talk to anyone. I've gone through this many times and it still kills me to leave her. This morning, I stayed with her for a short while but she still clung to me. So one of her daycare providers picked her up and hugged her, which was the signal for me to "get away." I know, it sounds awful that I do it but I've tried staying longer and lingered around but nothing seems to work. As I walked away from her room this morning, I could hear her screaming and crying "Mama come!". It just tore me apart but I knew that she would be ok in a couple of minutes.
I've read that the child's reluctance to go to daycare can be a sign that there's something going on at daycare that the child doesn't like. I'm pretty sure though that this is not the case. The daycare providers are very loving and I've dropped by numerous times during random times of the day and have seen her having a great time playing or seen a daycare provider holding and soothing another child because he/she wasn't feeling well or missed his/her mom. I also have 2 other mommy friends with kids in Scarlett's room and they also concur that the daycare is great. So despite the feeling of guilt of "abandoning" her, I reassured myself that she's going to be ok.
I had forgotten to pack her milk this morning so I had to go home, get the milk, and drop it off again at daycare. When I got back half an hour later and slipped the milk through the door to one of her daycare providers, she sounded fine and was participating in storytime.