I recently found out that I am pregnant with our second baby that is due in July 2008.
I have a 19 1/2 month old son that is a great joy to me. Are there any books out there for him (and me) to help explain the baby that is coming to him? We also got him a toddler bed and are going to transition him into it very soon. Any ideas on that would be appreciated also. Let me just say that every transition with him has been cold turkey and has worked well. Day care teachers helped a lot with that, too.
Thanks for any advice,
T.
Don't worry about explaining too much until you start to show and your son starts to ask. I read a book call "I'm a Big Brother Now" to my son. (My boys are 20 months apart.) It helped a little bit.
We never made too big of a deal about things, but we talked openly and matter of fact.
Good luck.
Don't worry about telling him right away. He will start to notice changes soon enough and it is a long time for the little guy to wait. One way to help them understand the time frame is to associate the time the baby is coming with other events in his life. "After your birthday" kinds of things. My girls are 19 months apart and my oldest new what was going on before we said anything to her. She was very pertective of my belly. She wouldn't even let my husband put his hand on my belly for a while. And she would kiss "the baby" all the time. It was really cute. Congrats!
Hi Tracey,
You can just wait until you are starting to show and then let him know he is gonna have a new baby brother or sister or wait till you know that if you are gonna find out.
No matter what the age it's always best to follow theses 2 rules ...
1) be honest
2) put it in age appropriate terms for the age of the child.
You can also get him a doll and show him how to gentle touch and how to hold the baby on his lap and he can practice feeding the "baby".
Oh and for you, when he asks for something to drink or wants you to get him something stall for five to ten minutes before you get it for him. This will get him used to him waiting patiently even if you don't have something to do right now.
Get the babies things out a few months before baby is here so he is used to seeing the new things around like swings and things like this. Get him used to the idea now not to hang on them or play with them.
Hi T.
I read your response about the mother-in-law taking care of the baby. My heart broke as I read your comment about your own mistakes with your MIL. As a MIL please know that if either of my daughter-in-laws came to me and wanted to work something from the past out. I would treasure that chance. I work so hard to be a good MIL, at times it is difficult. Sometimes we only see what we are use to and don't realize that others are getting use to the way we are too. I don't know about your MIL, but with me I have two sons and their wives are the daughters that I've longed to have for years. I love them so much and they love my sons and make them happy and I appreciate them so much for that. If anything in our relationship, I pamper them both! I have to watch myself that I don't over spend on them and not my boys. I'm one to be fair and equal to all. So I pray that it isn't too late for you and your MIL. Talk to your hubby about it.
Good luck and you wrote very sweet things about her. Take care.
Try contacting your local hospitals. They usually will offer a class for soon-to-be siblings to help them understand that they are going to be a big sister or brother. It really helped with our daughter and it was a wonderful bonding experience too. After the class she stated immulating the things she saw and learned in the class with her baby dolls.
Good Luck and Congratulations!
Go to your local bookstore, we have Barnes and Nobles. They have all kinds of books for explaining things to children and you can ask them which are the best...great idea to do that.
