Pairing Apple Watch SE 2 with iPhone Pro 17 with ios26

Daughter has an Apple Watch SE 2 which was working perfectly set up as a family member using Wi-Fi only (she’s only nine so we didn’t use the cellular option). I got a new iPhone 17 pro for Christmas with the latest iOS 26 software, and my daughter‘s Apple Watch (which was running 11.6 software) could no longer pair with my new phone but it was still working perfectly on its own i.e. Sending and receiving iMessages, FaceTime audio calls etc.

Yesterday I decided to remove her watch from the list of family watches on my new phone, and repair it. This has caused the biggest issues the past three days as I have not been able to get the watch working again. I’ve unpaired and paired the watch several times, restarted both the watch and the phone, erased the watch and paired it again, but absolutely nothing we do can get the watch working again.

The issue is that we cannot get iMessage or FaceTime to work and there is just an endless spinning loop when we go into the settings for each. When we try to FaceTime or send her an iMessage, the calls and messages go straight to her iPad but not her watch.

I’m trying to avoid upgrading her watch to the new iOS 26 software because I upgraded my older watch to iOS 26 and I’ve had issues since, so I don’t want that to happen with her watch.

Can anyone please help me as to why iMessage and FaceTime aren’t working on the watch now that I’ve paired it with my new phone?

We have also tried using the walkie-talkie function, and that is not working either, so could it be a Wi-Fi connection issue?

I’m desperate for someone to help - thanks!