Abandonment anxiety - any tips?

The dolly is a good idea; I'll pass that one on, also the leaving rather than being left (although not possible for school!) I do know it's only a phase, and she'll get over it, but as this particular phase is not one I'd ever encountered, I wondered what other people did. And it all increases the burden of guilt.
But thanks for the reassurance - it's just another thing to deal with. As I said to my daughter, soon it'll be piercings and tattoos and we'll look back on this with fond remembrance.

If small children are afraid Mum won,t come back you could try leaving a precious possession of Mum,s with the child to keep safe. If they realise Mum would never want to lose it they will believe she will come back. It,s a sort of psychological guarantee that she hasn't,t really gone away.

Forgot to say this is especially effective if the object has Mum,s scent attached to it. Smell is our most evocative sense for remembering.

When DD was born I was in hospital for 10 days with a planned C section, My mum came over to look after 20mnth old DS. Siblings were only allowed to visit weds and weekends.

When I got back home to DS he didn't want anything to do with meor DS. When one day his dad went out leaving me with DS who was very upset angry etc. I just made him sit on my knee and hugged him while he cried.
He did seem to forgive me after that. It is harder when the child has not got much language.

I do suspect older children know how to work this "separation anxiety" of themsleves or is it their parents, to their own advantage though.

Any ideas on how to gently prepare a 4 year old boy for the fact that his Mummy will shortly be going into hospital for a back operation and will be out of action for several weeks afterwards. He is very clingy at times and will find this situation quite difficult. There don't seem to be any books at all on this subject.