STMs: Preparing siblings

aah1013 · April 2015

How are you preparing you older child/children for baby's arrival?

I'd like to think I'm doing a good job getting my daughter ready, but hearing what others are doing might give me ideas of what I might be missing.

amberrmariee20 · April 2015

My son is 3, will be 4 a month before baby comes, I keep asking him what's in mommys belly, he tells me a baby, he wants a brother he made that clear, he will come to me every morning, rub my belly and say "I love your baby mommy" he's excited, he told me the baby's going to play trucks, cars, trains and build blocks with him, then I explained not for a while till baby got older, got a video of a crying newborn let him watch it and asked him if he still wanted a baby, he said yes mommy I still want a baby !

Krina18 · April 2015

I found a book called "I'm going to be a big sister". My step daughter is 6 and lives it. It talks about the baby coming and what she can expect and safe toys vs bit safe toys. It's got her asking a lot of questions and thinking about what she can and can not do with the baby and what they can play together. Also talks about her reading to the baby and talking to it to help it learn also.

LiveNLove44 · April 2015

That's a great question! I'll be checking this thread, too. DD is 20 months now, and will be just over 2 years when our LO arrives. As of right now, she loves baby dolls, but has zero concept of a baby coming to our family. We talk about it, but I think most of our transitioning work is with helping her feel like a "big girl" and do big girl things. We will transition her bed and hopefully potty train before LO arrives, so those are the more measurable "big things" we'll do. Beyond that, I think giving her some things she can do with us that make her feel like a big girl (she loves unloading the dishwasher) will help reinforce that she's going to be the big sister in our house. I am really excited to see what she's like as a big sister!

Carmofrap · April 2015

My son is 21 months and has no conceppt of baby.

I will keep explAining it until he gets it or baby comes. Haha. Got him some books. Considering getting him a baby doll a few weeks before baby arrives so he can take care of his baby while I take care of his sibling. A friend of mine did that and her lil boy is so in love with and helpful with his little sister. But i just forsee baby doll taking a dive off the balcony or getting tossed in the toilet....

sbeltre · April 2015

My son is 4 and is super excited. He talks to my tummy and hugs my tummy all the time. and even though he was upset it's not a sister he seems pretty excited he will have someone to play cars and super heroes with... He even said for Halloween he wants to be batman and the baby can be robin.

on_the_move · April 2015

Mine are 6 and 4 and they are pretty excited about the baby. DD was claiming that it is going to be a girl so hard that I was worried if we had a boy she was going to send us back to the hospital so we talked about how God will send us who we need in our family. We've talked about things that the baby will do when it gets here and how Mommy will need their help. We've talked about how DD will be the big sister now and will need to be a big helper.

vamomtobe · April 2015

My son just turned 3 and we've decided to wait until we know the sex to tell him. I think he'll be excited, I'll check this thread for ideas but I really like the idea of getting a baby doll for him, and a book, too. Just last night he folded up a slice of pizza into a tube, said a little baby is sleeping in there, and then said "now I eat up the little baby!" and chomped the pizza, so that gives me pause...lol.

deanna1313 · April 2015

My son is only 10 months so there isn't much I can do to prepare him for baby #2! Hopefully he does well with the new baby.

cjvisona · April 2015

I'm nervous! My baby will be 20 months when the new babe arrives. What can I do to prepare her? I don't think there is much!

mrsdhouse89 · April 2015

My son is four and will be turning 5 a few months after the baby is born. I think it helps that his best buddy is going to be a big brother too so they are always talking about how they are both going to be big brothers. My son is extremely excited as he had asked for a sibling for months before we started trying.

curfam4 · April 2015

DD will be almost 4.5 years when this baby is born, so we've been talking about the baby and how things will be new and exciting and different when he/she is here. She really wants the baby to be a girl, so I think it will be nice if it is. She'll be moving to a bigger bedroom, so that the new baby can have the nursery, so we've been working on getting that all ready for her. We're trying to make it a big deal like it's her "big girl room", and have her excited for that. We're also planning to have her moved into the new room around July/August so that the nursery won't (hopefully) feel like "her room" anymore, so it won't be a big deal to have the baby in there (although really that room will probably be empty for 5-6 months as the baby will be in our room for the first while anyway).

We are trying to include her in picking things out, and we plan to have a really cool big sister gift basket that she'll get once the baby is born

Raijapatterson · April 2015

I hope it's not an issue when the baby he arrives, but out 3 year old has been the center of our world, so I am expecting a little jealousy. We are involving her in everything we can. Picking out new things for the baby. Picking out toys and books she wants to hand down to her etc. She has even gone to the ultrasounds to see pics of the baby! It was pretty cute when she thought the 3D pics looked like we were having a baby lion because the picture showed up yellow. She seems sort of indifferent to the idea so far. I am thinking that once I start showing and she can see the baby move she might be more excited. We'll see I guess. Fingers crossed this is a good experience for her as well! I'll keep an eye on this one. Excited to see other ideas to help the transition go smoothly!

StephN310 · April 2015

My daughter was 15 months when my son was born. There was no preparation! And she did NOT like him for a while! They will be 6 and 5 when this LO arrives. I just plan on including them with the pregnancy and preparing them for what baby will be like when she (??) arrives. Crying, sleeping, where she will sleep, breastfeeding, pumping, that mommy will be tired, and how they can help with the baby. We will all adjust!

eat111315 · April 2015

My daughter was 22 mos when my son was born. We got her a couple of books about being a big sister but she wasn't really interested in them. We pointed out babies and siblings everywhere and just tried to be very positive about it. Something worked because she really didn't mind her little brother at all when he came home. Took her awhile to actually like him, but I think she didn't feel threatened which was what we were really going for.

This one should be less of a challenge. My son love love loves babies so I think he'll be super excited to get one at home. We have yet to break the news to them they're getting a sister.

dlbello23 · April 2015

I don't know if dd fully gets it when I tell her there's a baby in my belly. She just says ok and moves on, she's 2 will almost be 3 when baby comes. I'm thinking in a few more months she will get it more. I know she's going to be extremely jealous being I can't look at or touch another baby without her being on top of me and saying "pick up, mommy." So we will see how it goes, she will eventually learn to like him.

MamaOwl15 · April 2015

DS turns 2 next month, and while I'm not sure how much he understands about the concept of being a big brother, we've gotten him a few books about being a big brother, which he enjoys. He has a cousin who was born in November, and for a while, I babysat a newborn, so he had exposure to babies and has taken quite an interest in them.

He'll say "Baby" to my belly and give it kisses, but I'm not sure if he grasps the concept that, in October, the baby will come out and live with us.

He'll be getting his toddler bed soon (Amazon says it's going to be delivered tomorrow!), and we're treating it as an early birthday present, acting all excited about his "big boy" bed. He'll start to see the nursery area come together over the next few months, but at least he'll be able to go back to the crib if needed during the transition.

When the baby arrives, I'll let him "help" as much as possible, maybe get him a doll to play with. He is alternately affectionate and violent with his teddy bears and other stuffed animals, so I don't know how that will go.

I don't know how much else you really CAN do to prepare a child this young for becoming a big sibling.

nbear618 · April 2015

My step kids are 15,12 and 9. Most of the time, they live with their mom. It was a very interesting phone call for them. We called the oldest (daughter) first. She is all about kids and had asked us before if we were going to have any. She was so excited. It was funny. She went on and on about the baby and shopping for the baby etc. We waited until she was with her brothers to tell them. They don't get excited too easily, so having her enthusiasm with them really helped. We have been keeping them in the loop as much as possible. Calling them just after big appointments etc. I am planning on videoing part of the anatomy scan to send to them, so they can feel like they are there.

When we found out the gender, they weren't too excited. (They ALL wanted a little brother.) It has taken some convincing that a girl is ok too. lol. Hoping when we spend more time with them this summer, they get more excited.

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