Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here .

Dear Care and Feeding,

I am hoping you can help me with some ideas to help my 1-year-old daughter bond with my husband’s family, especially my mother-in-law. It was my daughter’s first birthday party today, and she wouldn’t allow herself to be held by any of my husband’s family members, only my mom.

For the past year, my mother-in-law has come to look after my daughter one morning a week when I leave the house to do a few hours of casual work. My daughter screams and screams when I leave. Apparently, some days she cries the whole time I’m away, but other times she calms down relatively quickly. My husband tries to work from home these days to ease her separation anxiety.

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