PolkMoms.com

Most of you have more than 1 Child how do you prepare your child with expecting a new baby on the way. Van is only 12 month when should I start talking to him and should I get a baby doll? What do you do? any help with this will be appreciated.

Although my husband didn't like the idea, I gave my son a baby doll. We always made him be nice to the "baby". I also had him help me put the "baby" in the car seat, swing, etc. We always talked to my daughter and he always kissed my belly and told his sister good night. After our daughter was born, we made sure we included him in everything. We never had a problem with jealousy or him being mean to her. It's been 8 months and they are best friends, he calls her his Dandi boo.

i seen some hospitals have big brother/ big sister classes. you might want to look into one of these.
my daughter is almost 3 so she knows she's getting a new baby. i have been taking her to the dr appointments. she was bored at the first one. but this next one they will listen to the heart beat and she is thrilled. i really can't wait for her to see a sonogram to see her new baby. she tells everyone she is getting a new baby it's so cute.

We started telling our 2 year old that we were having another baby as soon as we found out even though we knew she probably wouldn't fully grasp the concept at the time. She went with us to the 20 week ultrasound and since then she seems to really understand what's going on (we're 27 weeks now). We pointed him out in the pictures and now she shows them off to people all the time saying "that's my baby brother (and tells his name). She's very proud.
Someone asked me the other day if I was having a boy or a girl and she turned around and said, "that's my baby brother in mommy's tummy." She'll talk to the baby and tell him to come out and see her soon. If you ask her what she's going to do with him when he gets here she'll tell you that she's going to help mommy feed him and hold him and rock him in the chair. She even says she'll change stinky diapers!
We ran in to a friend the other day who is also expecting and my daughter asked her whether she had a baby brother or a baby sister in her tummy. It was really cute. But she does understand that not everyone has a baby in their tummies.
To help her get ready for the "company," we've tried to include her in everything. She is helping us get the nursery ready, we had her go through her old "baby" toys and pick out the ones to give to him and now she tells everyone that those are her baby brother's toys. We also went ahead and brought all of the baby furniture (like the highchair and bassinet) back in to the house so she would be used to it and moved her out of the nursery and in to the 'big girl' room a couple months ago so she wouldn't feel like he was the reason for her moving. And we've let her go shopping and pick out clothes for him just from her.
We also make sure to tell her that while he'll be mommy and daddy's best boy she'll always be our best girl. I know it's important to focus on her being the "big sister" but I also want to make sure she realizes she'll still be my baby too.
Beyond that, we're fortunate that she's been around a lot of smaller babies so she already knows about being gentle and not picking them up, etc.

I just found this information and thought of you ladies!

SIBLING COURSE is designed to help a child adjust to having a new baby in the family. For children 4 years old and older. Call 687-1100, Ext. 2097 to register.


I found another one in Winter Haven - so I assume there is this type of class in each town?? It's worth a look into - I'd call your local hospital to see


SIBLING PREPARATION CLASS
meets at Regency Medical Center. COST: $5. Call 294-7020 for dates and times. Pre-registration required.

Although my children are older, there is a 10 year difference in the last ones. When my son was born they were all very excited, and getting ready for the new baby was something I really didn't think of because of thier ages. Well I really think I should of, because the 13 year old now, was the baby, which it has taken her about 3 years to adjust, to not being the baby anymore. Although she loves her little brother dearly, I still think back now to some things I could have done to have her adjust to not being the baby anymore. I know it sounds weird, but children are weird in thier own ways.

There is a book called "I'm the Big Brother" and one for sisters by Joanna Cole - she also does one for Pottying called "My Big Boy Potty" - and our older son LOVED this story read over and over and over - did I say over and over - again! It's very sweet and shows the different things that baby will need from family. There is a page showing baby being bottle fed and since we were breastfeeding, I just used white out over the bottle. No big deal -

click here for I'M A BIG BROTHER STORYBOOK

click here for I'M A BIG SISTER

My son has some behavior issues, so I was really worried about how he would react to being a big brother. They were supposed to be 4 yrs apart. He behaved more like a three year old at that age. She came a few months earlier than expected too. After she was born, we bought him a bike, and told him it was a gift from his sister. That seemed to help. He pretty much ignored her for the first 9 months. Then when she started moving around a little, he would pay attention to her sometimes. Now that she is two, they run around together sometimes. On her birthday, he said he was excited that she was two because now they could play together. He also couldn't wait to get home and see how "big" she was now. Around the time she started walking (18 mos) he started behaving pretty badly. I think there is some jealousy contributing to this. But he rarely shows outright jealousy, and there isn't much fighting between the two of them (yet!). Maybe it's the age difference that helps??