Siblings

[muffin cakes]

For those of us who are pregnant with our second child or more. Have you been wondering how you are going to introduce your new member of your family? My son will have just turned 2 when my baby is due. Do u have any ideas of how to make this transition from one to two as smooth as possible?

[southerngirl]

I wonder the same thing because my 2nd child will be one on Jan 5th..

 

This baby, my third is due Dec 20th.

 

I have an older son too, he will be nine on the 17th of this month. Its so much easier with the oldest because he understands that there is a baby coming and is very excited! He is such a good big brother too!

 

My youngest, I am pretty sure he doesnt know anythings going on, even though Ive told him theres a baby in my belly how much does he even understand ya know?

 

I expect he will probally be pretty jealous because he is clingy and is attached to my hip. Doesnt like outsider people, will even cry sometimes if people 'strangers' talk to him when we are out and about.

 

I dont think he is going to like sharing mama with another baby.

[AwdreeHpburn]

OHMYGOODNESS!

 

How exciting for both of you and your older children.

 

My personal advice is to talk about the baby a lot. If your older ones are old enough to understand, make them feel like they're got a BIG job to do being a big sister or brother. Not to the point of making them feel responsible but enough that they'll take pride and not feel so much jealously.

 

It is ALWAYS better to prepare them in such advance and continue reminders as time gets closer so that there's no room for them being blind sided.

 

The older siblings who are real young - 1-3 yrs - WILL have a hard time initially no matter what you do - at least to some degree - but even this can be really short lived dependig on how you handle it.

 

Make sure you don't FREAK out when they want to touch the baby - that will start resentments right away.

 

It's really hard to NOT focus so much on the new baby but really try to make sure EVERYONE who comes to see the baby says hello to the older sibling and congratulations them on "their" baby or on being a big sister etc.

 

How fun!

[Relationship Coach]

There are some great books out there that will help you prepare your child for the new arrival. It is important to try and see things from your child's perspective because as an adult there are things which you may over look. Avoiding a sibling rivalry at all costs starts in the early developmental periods. Go to amazon or your favorite online book store and look under sibling rivalry and preparing your child for a baby. This will give you a good start!

 

RC

[Bethany]

My eldest was 2 and a half when the little one came along. I had no problems I admit. She came to see us both in the hospital, I let her hold the new baby, propped up and supervised closely of course, let her join in with the bathing, etc.

 

But I also made lots of time for just us two, as did her father, and grandparents. We tried not to change her routine too much i.e. bedtimes stayed the same, as did the bedtime stories, trips to the park and playgroup etc.

 

I'm positive that doing these things helped us to remain a close family and she never felt left out because of it.

 

Good Luck.