I have a friend that has a boy that will be 5 in 2 months. He has been in daycare since 6 weeks, with no issues. He suddenly is crying when his mom leaves. I have ask if there have been any changes in his life. She says none. I also ask had anything changed at the daycare, kids, teachers, routine, food etc. Haven't heard back from her on that yet.

Any sugggestions for one this old? My kids are 30 and 28 LOL. My dcks are 3 mo -2 y/o. I don't have current experience with this age.

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Could be anything, mom/dad fighting, one of them not at home alot, new routines at home, not enough sleep, or more responsibilty for him at home. Could be lots of things, or if something happened at daycare where he cried when mom leaves??

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Is he in school? At this age I'd figure he'd be in kindergarten? Some kids take longer to adjust to the school routine. My son is in gr 1 and it was hard for him since there was no play time. He looked around and asked where all the centers were.
Like others said, if the parents are fighting, or if the parents schedules or routines have changed, they will pick up on it. Some kids are very intuitive of others feelings/moods even if they haven't heard the parents fighting.
Are there other strange/different behaviours at home? Like sticking close to mom, always wanting to be in the same room as her? or other things?
It's hard to say what could be causing it without knowing the child or knowing more of the situation.

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I have found all kids go through this phase. If they do not go through it as an infant or toddler it will prolong into the school years. My son also went through it at age five. He was home with me since birth and so never had to be seperated. When he began pre k outside of our home he went through it. As a result he had to repeat pre k because he missed all the academics his seperation was so difficult. The older the child the more difficult the anxiety because they remember after mom or dad leave. They are not easily distracted. Several of my dck I have had since infancy, and several have yet to hit this phase. I encourage parents to have the opposite parent drop off for a few days by age 2 if this phase does not kick in. I have found this triggers the seperation anxiety and usually we work through it. If you wait until pre k or kindergarten you will have a more difficult time to work through this normal phase.

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Another ting to consider is does another child act like this at daycare and if so what attention does that child get?

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