So, it's been an eventful few weeks. LO turned 3 on June 1st, I landed in the hospital on June 4th for 3 days with a back injury, and ever since then, she's had a lot of acute separation anxiety from me specifically. Overall, it's been OK during the day, but bedtime has become a nightmare. The week that I got home, she was still going to bed as usual but started waking up at night crying that she was scared and would take an hour to settle back down. Then that stopped, but now she refuses to let me leave the room after our bedtime routine, to the point of getting hysterical if I walk out. First I thought she was actually scared of something and this was a new age/development phase. The last few days though, it seems to be more just about wanting me to stay in her room, because now she'll say she's scared, and as soon as she sees me staying, she wants to go play. I started telling her she can play, but mommy has to go to bed, and as soon as I try to leave, she starts crying and saying she's scared.

I know it's probably just a phase, so I've been trying to stay calm and sit with her, hold her hand, etc., be really quiet and not engage, etc. She normally takes an hour to settle down anyway, so it's rough to be hanging out in her room trying to pretend to sleep the whole time, especially with a crappy back problem. Inevitably she starts wanting to play and I try to leave and she starts crying and I'm not willing to leave her to cry. DH can help here and there but she really only wants me.

I'm a little worried that if this keeps going, she's going to get in the habit of having me there and lose the ability to settle down herself (I'm probably overthinking that, but creating bad habits is something I worry about). We've tried everything I can think of - talking about her fears, having a lot of her stuffed animals nearby, keeping quiet and not engaging much, etc. Any other ideas and things we can try? Keep going until things settle? I'm also a bit worried because she's due to move up into a new classroom at daycare next week and that's a fair amount of change as well (which daycare is going to slowly transition her to, but still), and what kind of effect all this might have.