Supporting My SD Through the Journey of Welcoming a New Sibling

brg1103

Hello! I hope everyone is happy and healthy! Would love some advice on the following:
 In a charming display of curiosity, my 6-year-old stepdaughter inquired whether my partner and I had plans for expanding our family. Honesty being our policy, we confirmed that we were planning to have children. Initially, she expressed contentment at the idea of having more siblings, particularly hoping for a little sister. However, her interest resurfaced two weeks ago, prompting repeated inquiries from her. Sadly, during the most recent conversation on the topic, she experienced a slight emotional upheaval, revealing her apprehension about us having children. Her concern stemmed from a desire for her own personal space, a sentiment influenced by her living arrangements of having a separate room at our home and sharing a room with her younger sister at her mother's residence. 

My partner and I are TTC and seeking insight from individuals who have navigated similar paths. We are eager to learn from those who have successfully guided their little ones through this transition. If you have any valuable advice to share on how to help a child adjust to the idea of welcoming a new sibling, we would greatly appreciate your input. How did you manage to ease the process for your child, and how is everything progressing now? Thank you so much!!!

britters314

@gillym0nster For future reference, this question would be good to put in the TFAS (trying for a sibling) thread. We try to keep the one-off posts to a minimum. And if the TFAS thread hasn’t been started for the week, feel free to create it! I would have started it yesterday but I’m running out of GTKY questions lol

I haven’t gone through this as my kids are only one year apart and are actually excited to start sharing a room when we have a baby. I do have a few suggestions though. You could work with your SD to come up with some area of the bedroom or somewhere else in the house that would be “her” space where she can be alone when she needs to. You could also consider having the baby sleep somewhere else for at least the first few months so it is more of a gradual transition and so your SD doesn’t have her sleep interrupted every time the baby wakes up. (Babies don’t need a whole room anyway. When my youngest sibling was born my parents put the crib in the laundry room to start.)