3 year old severe separation anxiety or something more???

My 3 year old dd who has always been attached to me recently has become so attached she wont let me out of her site. She cries and screams to the point that it almost looks/feels to me be a panic attack. That's what I would compare it to. Shes sooo anxious if Im not there And I notice a sense of relief wash over her when I come back.

How do you know if its just a case of severe separation anxiety? Or if something more is going on?

Nothing has changed. Only milestone hit is she was potty trained. This started after that. Otherwise no other part of our routine is different.

The reason I ask if its something more is because about 2 weeks before the end of school she was potty trained. Previous to that she wore a diaper which they never changed.
1 day at school they called me to pick her up early because she was inconsolable for 20 min. She wouldnt tell me what happened. At first she said her teacher hurt her. Then she said her friends hurt her. Then she said they touched my side. Then she said no they didn't. I asked them at school what happened but they said the only thing that happened was a sub came in to help them briefly when 1 teacher stepped out. She freaked when this new person came in. She laid on the floor and her friends were trying to console her and rub her back give her a hug but she only freaked out more. (which is the way my dd is, when shes upset she wants space she hates when people touch her or get in her space when shes upset. she only allows me to hold her)
This has NEVER happened. From that day on she cried every time she had to go to school. She didn't want to go. She previously LOVED school asked to go everyday. The last day of school she didn't care to say goodbye to her teachers. She hasn't asked me once about it.

And I honestly feel like maybe something more happened there. I got a strange feeling after that. And I felt the director was watching me or 'checking up on me' when 1 morning she was hysterical when I was leaving. She was like oo is everything ok? is she having a hard time again? I felt it was off. That's how the director normally is, shes very interested in her students and is a doll. So the behavior wasnt different maybe I was just looking for something. BUT something felt off after that about the teacher she said hurt her. I kinda kept an extra eye on her so to speak. Nothing in her behavior changed either.

Its just so confusing and hard to figure out. How do you get a 3 year old to talk she doesn't know how to express her feelings. when I ask why she is so scared she just says because Im scared. and cant explain why.

Is this normal? Do I bring her to someone to find out if something more happened? Who would I bring her too? Does this just sound like normal separation anxiety?

This has been going on for 3-4 weeks now.

Her sleep is also now off. And shes tired and cranky which isn't helping anything.

ETA: Im growing more concerned because its not getting better its getting worse.

Message edited 6/30/2015 11:40:04 AM.

Re: 3 year old severe separation anxiety or something more???

I'd ask your doc what she or he thinks.
Could be something... But probably nothing.

Re: 3 year old severe separation anxiety or something more???

I usually say to trust your gut, but this is a very common phase at that age and that's probably what's going on.

For DD, something very benign happened at dance class, but she got confused or embarrassed and after that for about a month she would freak when I tried to leave the room and it continued over to daycare where she would go hysterical every time I dropped her off. If I hadn't been there in the room when the first "incident" happened, I too would have suspected that someone hurt her.

The only thing we could do was ignore it and divert her attention. When she was hysterical at drop off I just gave a quick kiss and left. Eventually it ended, but it did take weeks.

I'm sorry you guys are going through this. It's so heartbreaking to see them so upset. It will get better.