Older Siblings meeting baby

TC0514 · June 2014

I posted a thread about who being in the delivery room and it got me thinking about siblings meeting baby for the first time. For the STM+ what are your plans for the older siblings meeting the baby? I've been thinking it would be really neat for my DS (9) to meet his sibling before anyone else.. like maybe be in the waiting room with family and once baby is born my husband could go get him and let him meet baby before the rest of the family? Obviously this depends on a few factors such as time of day, and if he's in school, and of course many other things could change between now and then. Just thought I'd see what you girls are thinking? Sorry for all the posts today, trying to get better about being involved instead of just commenting

jillybean7582 · June 2014

My husband and I recently had this discussion. We want DS to be the first to meet his little brother or sister. He will only have just turned 2 when the baby is born so he won't really know the difference if he is first or not but it is still important to us that we have that family moment as just the four of us. We plan on letting our family know this is our plan and that means if baby is born late in the evening after DS is inbed everyone else will just have to deal with waiting until the morning to meet baby after DS does.

Either my parents or my FIL would have to be with DS anyway and miss out till morning so I think it makes it more fair for all the grandparents this way too as they can all meet baby at the same time just like when DD was born.

TC0514 · June 2014

I think that's a great idea. My son has been the only child/grandchild for 9 years so this is going to be a huge change for him. He's very excited to be a big brother but I still feel like he should meet the baby first! In a perfect world baby would come on a Saturday or Sunday while he's out of school haha!

Maelara · June 2014

DD will only be 16 months when we have the baby but I want her to be the first to meet this baby too. She won't remember but I can tell her and have pictures. It will be nice to have a family moment before all the visitors descend upon us.

mexinugget · June 2014

Ds will be 20 months when this baby comes, but like everyone else we want him to meet his brother or sister first. My cesarean is scheduled for Monday the 24th so husband will go get him after i'm out of recovery and bring him to the hospital to meet his sibling.

HerHighness · June 2014

Keep in mind that some hospitals do not allow children under 18 in the hospital at all during winter months because of flu outbreaks. My nieces who were all teenagers weren't allowed in to see my daughter. It was October and h1n1 was going around. I also couldn't take dd (who is 4) to see my father in law after his surgery last February. Not trying to be Debbie downer, I'd just hate to see this shock you closer to your due date.

mussalynn · June 2014

Great post OP! I hadn't even thought of this yet, or what we're going to do with DS when I go into labour... eeek I guess I have some things to think about!

I'm really hoping to be able to VBAC this time, and if I do and things go well, our midwives will let us go home within a few hours of the birth. If things do go according to plan, I think we'll wait until we get home for DS to meet the new baby.

Momma&babies · June 2014

My DD will be 28 months when this LO is born. I figured my dad would babysit her while I'm in labor and bring her to the hospital once I deliver to meet her sibling. Just thinking about it makes me excited and so happy. I can't wait to take pictures of her meeting her sibling!

Maelara · June 2014

HerHighness said:
Keep in mind that some hospitals do not allow children under 18 in the hospital at all during winter months because of flu outbreaks. My nieces who were all teenagers weren't allowed in to see my daughter. It was October and h1n1 was going around. I also couldn't take dd (who is 4) to see my father in law after his surgery last February.

Not trying to be Debbie downer, I'd just hate to see this shock you closer to your due date.

This is a very good point. At all points my hospital will only let siblings in to meet the new baby. I couldn't bring DD when we went to see my BFFs baby. But I already knew about that.

SweetMelissa5 · June 2014

HerHighness said:

Keep in mind that some hospitals do not allow children under 18 in the hospital at all during winter months because of flu outbreaks. My nieces who were all teenagers weren't allowed in to see my daughter. It was October and h1n1 was going around. I also couldn't take dd (who is 4) to see my father in law after his surgery last February. Not trying to be Debbie downer, I'd just hate to see this shock you closer to your due date.

This can definitely be an issue; we were surprised by this policy when my youngest was born, and they said that my older two couldn't come see her in the hospital because of the flu outbreak. On the other hand, when my second was born, my oldest was in the waiting room and was the first person brought in to meet her, which I loved. I will definitely be asking ahead of time for this baby if my kids can come to the hospital to meet their new sibling.

kimberly_ann81 · June 2014

After Peanut was born my FIL brought Sweet Pea to visit the next morning before church. Peanut was born Saturday night at 11:45 so a visit that day was out of the question. The plan is to have the boys come visit the baby after a few hours (depending on time of birth) so I can recover and relax a little.

simplysins · June 2014

Children under 12 are not allowed to come visit, over here. They keep you overnight so, SS will be able to come once he is not in school, however DS will have to wait till we bring LO home.

Melissa2216 · June 2014

That's a great idea. I may steal it.

My in-laws will stay with DS when it's time for me to go to the hospital. Depending on what time of day it is, we will have them drive to the hospital when the baby is close to arriving or as soon after the birth as is convenient. I think I would really like to have my son come in first so we could have a little time with the four of us, and then the grandparents can come in.

wallygirl · June 2014

My grandmother will have DD during L&D and then will bring her to the hospital after I deliver. My parents and MIL will already be there. As long as there are no complications my hospital keeps you in your l&d room for 2 hours after delivery. We will do skin to skin for those two hours. Then when we get to my pp room our parents and DD will come meet the baby.

CPM13 · June 2014

I hadn't thought about this! Thanks for posting! We definitely need to make some decisions.

jillybean7582 · June 2014

HerHighness said:
Keep in mind that some hospitals do not allow children under 18 in the hospital at all during winter months because of flu outbreaks. My nieces who were all teenagers weren't allowed in to see my daughter. It was October and h1n1 was going around. I also couldn't take dd (who is 4) to see my father in law after his surgery last February.

Not trying to be Debbie downer, I'd just hate to see this shock you closer to your due date.

Yes definitely a factor some places. I would reccomend everyone do a pre birth hospital tour so you are aware of all the policies and procedures. Especially if you have a choice of hospitals.

We had a choice of 2 hospitals when we had DS. One 2 blocks from our house and one 15 mins drive. We thought for sure we would go with the closer one as it was new and had all the bells and whistles. After touring both we didn't even have to say it to know yhat we would be going with tbe hospital farther away.

This time around we have moved and do not have an option of choosing the hospital but I do know they only allow siblings for anyone inder the age of 13 and they are only allowed in the mom's room. No hanging out in the waiting rooms etc. My niece was born at the same hospital last year.

pennyandandy · June 2014

DS will probably be first. My sister is going to come watch him, but I will most likely have a RCS, so we could give her a pretty accurate time to show up once I'm out of recovery.

meeshybee · June 2014

My 2nd and 3rd were both born at night, so both times the siblings didn't get to meet until the next day. I never really cared who saw the baby first as long as cameras were ready when the siblings met. I was perfectly happy to have them come the next morning when I was more prepared for visitors.

venussapphire · June 2014

jillybean7582 said:

My husband and I recently had this discussion. We want DS to be the first to meet his little brother or sister. He will only have just turned 2 when the baby is born so he won't really know the difference if he is first or not but it is still important to us that we have that family moment as just the four of us. We plan on letting our family know this is our plan and that means if baby is born late in the evening after DS is inbed everyone else will just have to deal with waiting until the morning to meet baby after DS does. Either my parents or my FIL would have to be with DS anyway and miss out till morning so I think it makes it more fair for all the grandparents this way too as they can all meet baby at the same time just like when DD was born.

same here

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