Telling your other child(ren)

alleykat2020

Hi guys, 

For any of you who have other children, when did you tell them (or when are you planning to tell them) that they have a little brother or sister on the way? 

Have any cute stories or pictures of how you've shared the news?

My DD is 4 and she has been asking for a brother or sister for years. We haven't told her yet but she is going to be so excited when we do. I just don't know how long to wait and I would hate to tell her and then have something happen. 

WishesSheCouldCook

Dd just turned 4. We still haven’t told her (or family which is a vast contrast from my pregnancy with her). We have an ultrasound tomorrow so maybe this weekend. We may wait until end of first trimester. Honestly we haven’t talked about when exactly. I know she’ll be excited. 

tyrion_

I don’t plan to tell my kids until after we receive a second positive scan and results from our NIPT (which is all happening in two weeks). 

Once we have all that information and that info indicates things are going well, we will share with them (4.5 yo son and 2.5 yo daughter; both want me to have a baby). 

Since we’ll also get the sex results with the chromosome results, I was thinking of just having the kids eat a cupcake with pink or blue inside and telling them that way. I dunno, I’m not creative and my kids love cupcakes. 

blackgirlmagic

@tyrion_ I'm not creative either, so I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to tell my daughter, but I know she is going to be so excited and I'm going to record it. When we get back from our trip we have our second scan and the results from the blood work. I plan to tell her after that appointment and then have her wear a shirt to daycare that says "big sister", so that they will then now. They are always telling me that I need a second and I know that they will be thrilled as well. 

Also, if I see something good in here I might steal it, fyi  

moguippy

DS is only 1.5. So we’ve told him but he’s not really verbal and doesn’t really understand. But will will be using him to tell families (put him in a big bro shirt). We’re waiting until a family trip in late February so everyone will be there. 

coldlife

We have told them, but I'm not sure how much my older girl understands. She's 2.5. We didn't do anything special, I just say I have a baby in my belly like I had her and her sister. So she'll sometimes pat my belly and say baby, but then she'll say I have her #2's names in my belly or baby Jesus in my belly. (We are Christians, and she loved hearing the Christmas story and acting it out over the holidays.) 

tara4910

I’ll wait until 2nd trimester, maybe even 20 weeks. My daughter is 3.5 and has no concept of time. She won’t understand baby won’t be here until August 😆

shaynaraerae

My DD is 5 and we told her after we told close family. We haven’t announced it publicly but we figured we’re talking about it enough and it’s why I am so tired and not feeling well. She is very excited, she also has been asking for a baby. I have a video of her asking Santa in 2018. Santa’s reaction was the best! 🤣

kgrgreen

We told DD right before Christmas so we could tell our family (I was 8.5w). She is 3.5 and loves books so we got her a few to read to her to help understand. "You were the first" from Amazon made me ugly cry but was really good (I definitely recommend reading it as a practice run if you don't want to be sobbing the whole time). We recorded us reading the story to her and her face lights up when we tell her I am PG. We try to hype her up and talk about how she is going to be a big sister and she loves the idea. But full discretion, she has none. So everyone she sees... literally, ev-er-y-oneee, she tells them "My mmmy has a baby in her belly!". I don't regret telling her when we did but know if your LOs are little, they will spill the beans!

blackgirlmagic

kgrgreen reading that melted my heart. I'm going buy that book! 

RedBaramid

Man, I have a 5 year old, she'll turn 6 just a month or so after this baby is born and I have no idea when we are gonna really tell her.  I'm pretty sick, and I don't want her to associate this sickness with a sibling.. but last year in preschool she used to talk about a baby sister so much that when my husband and I came in for parent teacher conference they just up asked if I was pregnant after we told them we had some important news to share (the news was we were moving lol!). Part of me thinks we need to wait until closer to the 20 week mark, because time is still a rough concept and it's a long ways to wait.. but another part of me is thinking it should be fine after our first ultrasound. I am planning on keeping it from the majority family for a bit yet, my cousin is in the middle of a foster-to-adopt situation and I really don't want to steal her thunder since this is her first baby. She has been fostering this child since she was a newborn, the mother even refused to name her so my cousin and her husband got to.  This month the courts are ruling the child as officially abandoned and I want to at least wait until the adoption proceedings are underway and things look good for them. I'm not sure how long the whole process will take but I don't know that I can keep this under wraps much past late March.

tyrion_

@RedBaramid I just want to say you’re a very considerate soul for thinking about your cousin. 

@blackgirlmagic I’m also here to poach any good ideas 😂

roo_baby

We’ve just been talking about it casually to get DD used to the idea, but she’s 2 so it’s not very real for her yet. I don’t really worry about her telling people since most people can’t understand what she says anyway. I do have to figure out when we tell our nanny. She’s not going to stay with us past August anyway, so it doesn’t affect her job at all. I was thinking of telling her after I get the NIPT back in 3 weeks or so. But there like a 95% chance she already knows and it’s starting to feel weird not saying anything.

jocieplus5

We have 4 kiddos, so this is our 5th. Personally I always wait until were 20-24 weeks to tell anyone besides our parents. I've had  a miscarriage in the past and get really nervous telling people. Our last baby was our first girl. So I surprised my oldest with a pink frosted whoopie pie to tell him he was finally getting a sister. 

gomillis

@kgrgreen We might steal your idea with the book, it sounds so incredibly sweet. 

DS is turning 3 in a few weeks. He’s been talking about having a baby sister a lot lately, so I think he will be really excited. We will probably tell him after we get the NIPT results back, which will be shortly after his birthday. I don’t want to steal his birthday thunder by announcing our pregnancy then, but I was thinking of getting him a few books about having a sibling for his birthday and using those to help explain it to him. His best friend from daycare will also be having a sibling around then so I think DS will understand what’s going on. 

alleykat2020

@kgrgreen I'm going to check out that book! My daughter loves to read and I cry at everything even remotely sentimental right now!!  

@coldlife That's adorable!

We are leaning towards not telling her until I have another scan / get the NIPT results. We haven't told anyone yet so I have to tell my family first or she will just tell everyone she sees. She was telling people I was pregnant when I wasn't (I had the daycare congratulate me which was awkward lol). 

babynoyes07

well this will all defiantly be surprising news to all the family, as i am 43  i have two Daughters from a previous marriage they are 23 yr and 25 years old. lol lets see how this will go. Baby is Due Aug 2020 i plan on telling family after the first trimester.

psychobutthead

I'm not telling my kids until the 12 week scan and test come back ok.

Its too hard untelling kids if the pregnancy doesn't work out.

[Deleted User]

DD is still so young, we have told her from the beginning she was going to be a big sister, but of course she has limited understanding.  I haven't been bringing it up too much lately, but I'm sure we will start telling her again as we get closer to the time we go ahead and tell DHs family later this month.  We do have one book, but I will look for the other one mentioned above, too!  Tku!  I want to get her a few big sister type books.

She also has a big sister tee shirt we'll eventually be wearing to daycare, and either that shirt or another similar type outfit to the family party.  I think we will do the classic onesie gift reveal to tell them, like we did in 2018 for DD.  Just struggling to find the right one, or we may go totally custom.

Incidentally, earlier today while she was sitting in her high chair, she started patting my tummy!  Lol so I am not sure if she has made any connection there?  Or just patting my tummy because it was sticking out and it was there! 😂

pengy16

We told DH family after my first appt (since they watched DS so we could go) and since DS was there, we told him then. He is SO excited. The biggest downside is that we arent ready to tell everyone but he is telling everyone. He also still has no concept of time and expects the baby to be here already but also told his school the baby is due in October? Which is impossible timeline wise but he doesnt know that since he is 5.
We plan to get him a big bro shirt and I saw this sign that says: "I prayed and it came true, mommy is due with baby #2" that we will have him hold to announce to everyone in February. We are Christian and he has been praying to become a  big brother for like 6 months so of course he thanked God for giving him a baby after he found out. It was really cute. 

[Deleted User]

@pengy16 that is really cute!  I had been praying harder than I can remember in my entire life for this baby, seriously.  When we were preparing for this cycle, I said a certain novena, and here we are!  So if it's a girl, we have her name picked out WELL in advance.  If it's a boy, we are very much at a loss for names! lol time will tell...

Linds1083

We told our kids on Christmas. I was only 6 weeks at the time. We expected the news to be exciting, but figured it would not be as exciting as all the new toys the opened. We were surprised when later that day they told the rest of the family that were over celebrating Christmas! Oh well!