So I knew that babies get to a point where they start getting wary of strangers, but I never thought it would start this early?! It actually started about 2 weeks ago when LO was not quite 4.5 mo. My parents visited and my brother stopped by to visit. They are not strangers, of course, but my dad and brother hadn't seen LO in a few weeks. My mom hadn't seen her in a few weeks either actually-- although she's seen her more overall because she sometimes visits alone and when they are here she spends a lot more time cuddled up to her than my dad does.

Anyways, every time my dad or brother tried to hold or touch her, she flipped out. Like terrified scream, big elephant tears, panting to catch her breath sobbing. I was sort of hoping it was just an off weekend. But my brother stopped by last night (first time since 2 weeks ago) and same thing. Less than 20 seconds after he grabbed her she freaked. It took forever to get her calmed down and then I tried just sitting next to him holding her and she was sort of just sniffling/staring at him suspiciously and he smiled at her and touched her toe and she flipped again.

She seems fine with strangers so long as they don't try to touch her or hold her, basically. But I SAH so the universe of "non-strangers" to her right now is me, DH, my mom, and my one friend who comes over regularly.

Any tips? I mean I know she just needs repeated exposures to people and that I probably should not have let my brother try to hold her last night, I should've eased her in a bit better by just sitting next to him with her first.

But beyond that... anything I can do? Did anyone else's baby start this so young? How long does it last?