Stranger danger
Also called stranger danger phase, stranger anxiety, stranger fear
Stranger danger is what parents call a baby's wariness or tears around people they don't know. Professionals call the same stage stranger anxiety.
How it's said
...has had a strong "stranger danger" radar since around 8 months old.
I'm actually a bit worried he has no sense of stranger danger!
Stranger danger can occur with new people or even with family members, who aren't strangers at all.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- Stranger danger is a baby's wariness of people they don't know. Separation anxiety is upset when a parent leaves, and the two often turn up in the same months.
Where it came from
Stranger danger began as a child safety slogan, chosen for its rhyme. Wikipedia dates the phrase to the 1960s.
Parents also use the rhyme for a much younger stage: a baby's fear of unfamiliar faces, which psychologists call stranger anxiety or stranger fear. A developmental pediatrician writing for HealthyBaby uses it this way, and Romper asks when babies learn stranger danger.