How to tell a 3 year old about new baby?

robleselizabeth

My daughter loves babies and plays well with them and wants to help with them. I’m not sure how to tell her that she will have a new sibling! I remember I was so jealous of my little brother and we were the same age gap as my DD will with baby. 

What do you suggest to promote excitement but also know we will love her just as much as our newborn? Thank you!

daffodil_shoe

DS is three. I just said “guess what buddy? Mama has a baby in her belly.” And he immediately said “Squeeze her out so I can hug her!” Pretty simple.

themadcamel

@daffodil_shoe omg what an adorable reaction 😍!

meggyme

We did a lot of books about being a big sister and how she’s such a big girl and would have to be a big helper. We also watched the Daniel Tiger episodes where he gets a sister a lot.

Otherwise I don’t think you have to worry too much about it. Tell them plainly and then answer any questions that come up. Work on being gentle with things. Hopefully they will be excited. My oldest absolutely loves her big sister and even when she was acting out when we first brought baby home, it was directed at mom and dad, not her sister.

daffodil_shoe

themadcamel said:

@daffodil_shoe omg what an adorable reaction 😍!

My favorite is that he said to squeeze the baby out, cuz he knows babies come out he vagina (we are slowly talking about csections but I don’t want to freak him out). 😆

lelkcot

I think a book on the subject can help. We started adding in a few books about adding a baby to the family once we started trying for a second. Once we were ready to share the news with our eldest (3 at the time), he was excited. Plus, you have a while to get them to warm up to the idea of a sibling, even if they don't react well initially. I think you approaching it with excitement will go a long way. 

Wishilivedinflorida

Definitely don’t tell until you are ready to be public on the pregnancy, though! 

My son was younger but we basically said there was a baby in my belly but that the baby would be outside soon and really small. We explained once she was here that she was little and we stressed being gentle. As she has grown, he has done really well. Luckily, he wasn’t talking yet when I got pregnant. I technically “told” him I was pregnant before my husband. 

itsbrev

My son is 3 and doesn't  really care for babies. A few friends have had babies and when we visit them, he’s very unimpressed. I ask If we wants a baby, his answer is always No. 

saladflambe

Does she like Daniel Tiger? Whenever/if we are able to get pregnant with #2, we will be watching those episodes and reading those stories about "there's time for you and baby too" and all that...on repeat