Pregnancy Books for Toddlers/ Older Sibs- Any Suggestions?

The best one I found was "Baby on the Way" by Dr. Sears. It gives enough information for a child his age. My son was just over 2 when I had my daughter.

I found it at Barnes and Noble, but you can probably get it at Amazon.

Good luck.

K.

I feel bad that I can't remember the name, but there was a book that we got at barnes and noble that only had pictures, no words. That way you can tailor it to your family. It had pictures of the mommy going to the doctor, coming to meet the new baby, etc.

It is good to read with them about what will happend when baby comes so there are fewer surprises. Our favorite book (still is!) And I've heard several others recommend it too is "the new baby" by mercer mayer.

If you haven't already planned for it, it's fun to have the new brother bring a gift for the baby, and for him to get a gift from the baby. Something special that he would really love. Good luck, two is crazy but fun!

Usborne Books has a great lift-the-flaps book for young children called "How are babies made?" by Alastair Smith that talks about it in a child's terms and has cute colorful illustrations.

A great one for preparing an older sibling for baby's arrival is called What Baby Needs by Sears. My kids have loved this one as we have welcomed each new baby into our home.

Hope these help!
J.

We just had our second son 3 weeks ago and we ran into the same problem with our oldest son. (He is 2 1/2) We found "God Gave Us Two" by Lisa Tawn Bergren and it deals with baby in mommy's tummy and just briefly on the arrival. We also transitioned our son from his crib about 6 months before the baby came and found that the Berenstein Bears "New Baby" was helpful about growing too big for the crib and needing a big boy bed. It also briefly talks about the new baby getting the old bed. Try a search on Amazon.com there were some other books out there - I just order these two. Hope that is helpful.

I live in Hillsboro, but the libraries out here have "sibling" kits to check out. I bet the portland libraries would have something similar?

It is a bag with various books for young children who are going to have a sibling soon. My daughter loves it and there were about 10 books to choose from. My husband just went in and asked to check it out.

Although it is not a kids book, my daughter loved to look through the My Pregnancy Week by Week book with me. It has illustrations about every other week, and we could talk about how big the baby was getting and new changes.

Salem Public Library has themed backpacks that can be checked out and have DVDs, toys, and books. They have one about new siblings. Check it out in the children's upstairs area of the main branch.

As a matter of fact, I know of a perfect book! I am also due in January and although my son will be 3 and a half when this baby comes, we have been a reading an awesome book together - which he loves! It is designed for children ages 2-5. It is called What To Expect When Mommy's Having A Baby, written by Heidi Murkoff. (A co-author of What To Expect When You're Expecting.)

It discusses how the baby got there, how it grows in the Mama's uterus (which my son now LOVES to say, haha!) and also how the baby will come out. My son's main concern about it all is that he thinks the baby will be scared "in the tunnel," and that he never, ever, wants the baby to put any of HIS toys in it's mouth, ever. He loves to feel the baby kicking around and hearing the heartbeat at appts. He often shines his little flashlight on my belly and says, "Okay Mama, everything look good in yours uterus. Hi baby."

While your son is a year younger, I am sure that this book would be one he will love! I'm sorry I can't tell you where to find it, but I am hoping you can't go wrong with Borders! (I found ours at a children's resale store.)

Also, you could check your local library. When I was pregnant with my three year old, our eight year old daughter was very inquisitive but it was an awesome way to inform her about it all and begin a now ongoing dialogue about sex and other issues. At first it was scary, but I found a book at the library that was very similar. There were two, one for ages 5-8 and one for ages 8-11. I opted for the 5-8!! It was awfully graphic, even though the pictures were drawn, they weren't photographs. Her first impression was, "I am never having kids, I will just adopt!" But then, she wanted to look through it together as well as on her own several times before it was due back... there very well could be one for the younger ages, I just wasn't looking for that age group then! Good luck on your search... I hope you can find the book! And good luck with the rest of your pregnancy too!

Kim

Hello -

When my third was on the way, my two boys LOVED "Hello Baby" by Lizzy Rockwell. It's such a great book - talks about what's going on inside and out and it shows the big brother and baby together after the birth. I cannot say enough about this one - got the recommendation from a friend at preschool whose daughter LOVED it. When we were done with it, it went on to my niece who was getting a baby brother and she loved it.

Here is the amazon link - they let you peek inside the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Baby-Lizzy-Rockwell/dp/051780...

Highly, highly recommended.

Good luck and congratulations!

The library sets are a great idea, but if you are looking to purchase books, checkout Borders in Bridgeport Village. I was just shopping for these books for my girlfriend. I was surprised to find a pretty big selection with most of the books focused on pregnancy stage and some sibling books as well. They were hard to find - I had to get someone to show me. The are upstairs in the children's section on the right side of the floor, at the very very bottom shelf of the leftmost shelf where the topics of family issues are addressed.

My kids loved to go through "What to Expect When You're Expecting" with me. I loved "Welcoming Your Second Child" by Vicki Lansky. Lots of ideas for making the transition easier. I just checked, and it's avaliable at www.Amazon.com and www.BarnesandNoble.com.
Congratulations! Have fun!

There is a book called There's a house inside my mommy by Giles Andreae. It worked great for us because we had all boys and the character is a boy waiting for a baby brother. Another one is the feeling of being the baby but no longer... I used to be the baby by Robin Ballard. Hope you find those. If not you can borrow mine.

OMSI has the baby display. That would be a great visual of what's going on inside there.

My daughter was 2 1/2 when her sister was born and her favorite books were The New Baby by Fred Rogers, Baby on the Way by Dr. Sears and I'm a Big Sister. Baby on the Way was the BEST one for prep-ing her before the baby arrives and explaining my changing belly and moods!

I have "What's Inside Your Tummy, Mommy?" by Abby Cocovini (kids section of Barnes and Noble, also available at Borders, I believe). It has great illustrations of what the baby looks like from month to month, and answers common kid questions in easy-to-understand language. My two girls love to look at the pictures, and there's a chart at the bottom of each page where we can mark off the days until the new baby is ready to be born. I highly recommend it.

I also had a hard time finding a good book for my daughter. I ended up with "The world is Full of BABIES!" by Mick Manning. I found it at a thrift store. It is not so much the process specific to humans but does make having babies seem like a special yet everyday thing. I also wanted to let you know that Great Starts (www.greatstarts.org) has a sibling preparation class. I took it with my daughter and it was great. They birth a doll and have a guest family come in with a little baby for the kids to hold. In fact that was the first time my daughter ever held a baby and she still remembers the way she was taught and will get herself into that position when she wants to hold her little brother!

Congratulations! Keep on rockin' strong mama :)
L.