2.5 yr Age Gap - advice please :)

Re: 2.5 yr Age Gap - advice please :)

• valigrl21 member

  January 2015

  I am sure it depends on your child and their personality, but for us - it was a really nice age gap. My oldest was 2 1/2 when my youngest was born. She has been a great big sister. She loved (and still does) helping with her baby sister - she helps with diaper changes by getting out a clean diaper and handing me wipes, she loves picking out the baby's clothes and will snuggle with me while I feed the baby if they both wake up in the middle of the night.
  
  Now that the baby is mobile and into her toys, she has gotten mad at little sis a few times when she messes up her toys. And every once and awhile, she's been overly helpful - trying to pick the baby up or trying to feed her sister gummy bears when she was like 3 months old - yikes!
  
  But for the most part, she's really helpful and loves her sister.
  
  It gets easier as they get older because their needs get more similar. You can try to coordinate baby's nap time with toddler's nap/quiet time. You can give them baths together and feed them at the same time and eventually the same food. For example, it's much easier to make 2 pieces of toast for breakfast than it is to make toast and prepare a bottle.
  
  As far as when you first bring baby home, we tried to make sure we still gave my oldest lots of attention so she wouldn't get jealous. We also gave her a "big sister" present with some things to help entertain her, like a new DVD, a book that you color with water (I don't know what they are called). I am not sure how much those things helped but I will probably do it again this time.
  

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• Emeraldeyed315 member

  January 2015

  I will be following. My kids will be exactly 2 years apart. 

  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  
  

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• sschwege member

  January 2015

  DD is 2 1/4 older than DS.  Honestly, I loved the separation.  She was old enough to understand she had to be gentle with baby and old enough to wait brief amounts of time for me.  She also could sit for awhile, so while I was nursing I would read, color, do puzzles, play play-doh, etc.  Plus, the threes were the hardest for us, so I was happy DS was past the NB stage when she turned three!
  
  I think the only thing that made it hard is they are still so young, you can't really trust them. Once I had DS in the jumper and stepped out of the room for a couple of minutes.   All of a sudden I hear a thud and screaming, DD had wanted DS next to her while she played, so she attempted to drag the jumper closer to her and it fell over with DS inside.  Thankfully he didn't fall out of the jumper and did not hit his head, but it was scary!
  

  
  
  
  
  
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• chelsea13elyse member

  January 2015

  Emeraldeyed315 said:

  I will be following. My kids will be exactly 2 years apart. 

  This! Same boat here. Curious to see what everyone has to say
  
  

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• 360blessings member

  January 2015

  My sons are exactly 2 1/2 years apart. DS1 has been a wonderful big brother from day 1. In fact he did much better than I had anticipated. There wasn't really any jealousy or rivalry of his part, but he did push the limits a bit more behavior wise - especially if I was busy nursing DS2. DS1 also always wanted to hold DS2 so we had to reinforce that mommy or daddy had to help. It was cute, DS1 wanted a picture of him holding his brother every single time. Whenever DS2 was crying, DS1 would sing him "you are my sunshine." Made my heart melt.
  
  I did try to make sure when DS2 was sleeping or with my husband that I was able to spend some good quality time with my oldest. And we kept him involved with my pregnancy and he seemed to "get it" unusually early.
  
  Anyways, I loved this age gap and it was perfect for my two boys. They love each other and it's been great. I was hoping DS2 and next baby would be closer together as DS2 will be 3 1/2 when this little one is born, but I think they will both be good big brothers.

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• Christab728 member

  January 2015

  Thanks ladies!! I've just been so nervous about the age gap.. We chose it because although I loooove babies, I really also love my sleep too lol. So getting that stage over seemed like a good idea instead of waiting 5 more years - step son and bio son are 5 years apart.

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• mommywagner member

  January 2015

  My daughter will be almost exactly 2 1/2 when this baby is born. She loves playing with get older cousins so I'm excited to see her as a sister. She's still nursing so I'm very nervous to see her reaction when she has to share milk. I know she'll be a great big sister and she'll probably be too helpful (picking up baby) at times.

  

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• imavera member

  January 2015

  Mine are exactly 2.5 years apart, and I think it's a great gap. The biggest issue I had was potty training with a newborn, but once we got past that it was fine! My boys (now 5 and 2.5) are best friends.

  

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