Intro and ??

mattanda2011

Hi Ladies, I am excited to be joining the 2 U 2 party! Right now we have a DD who is turning 1 next week and I am due at the beginning of June, making our little ones 16 months apart! wahoo!

We find out next week if we are having another girl or a boy.

My main question is about having DD be involved. Currently she is mostly unaware that mom is growing another baby. She just recently learned about her belly, but that is about as far as we have gotten. We also don't have a ton of friends with children younger than her.

I guess I am just wondering any moms with experience with a similar age gap, how much did you older LO "get it" as far as pregnancy and baby, and what did you do to help prepare or make a smooth transition?

Thanks!

RedDDD

Mine are 17 months apart and DS didn't have a clue as to what was going on.  Once I was much farther along and obviously pregnant he would point to my belly and laugh (oh so kind ) so I would say things like "baby in belly"  or "mommy has a baby in her belly, where's your belly?" and he would point and laugh.  Once she was born I would say the first few weeks he was totally disinterested.  He would look at her and barely acknowledge her.  We just kept saying "sister" and her name and emphasize that we hug and kiss her which he does now but he is 21 months now.  It took a while for him to get it.  But he was so little he really just didn't understand.  I have to say too...he really wasnt jealous until recently.  Now that she is a little older and is more demanding of attention he gets that she is taking time away from him but for the most part it was a smooth transition and we didn't include him much at all.  I have a friend whose girls are 16 months apart and she warned me about bringing the older sibling to the hospital because her older daughter was very fearful of the hospital bed and all the lights and cords etc....when my SIL brought DS to the hospital to see his sister he was really nervous and seemed scared with everyone in the room and mommy in a bed (I had a CS).  Taking him home was really hard...I felt so sad to see him go.  I almost felt like we shouldn't have bothered bringing him to the hospital and just waited until we were all home together.  Just my opinion  GL!