Siblings & a new baby advice

big bear

A bear on a mission!
So sorry if this is in the wrong section but I know quite a lot of you have children and give great advice also the pregnancy section on the forum scares me...

My son is nearly 18months old and I'm almost 20 weeks pregnant. He knows there is a baby in Mammy's belly but think he probably is too little to understand. He also looks at baby pictures and points to babies on tv and then my tummy making baby crying noises.

I would like some advice on when the new baby actually arrives. I don't want him jealous/upset/left out.

Did any of you have problems with siblings & new arrivals or any advice grately appreciated.
 
My eldest Isaac was 20 months when his brother arrived. I worried about how he'd take it but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be. I think it's probably simpler the younger they are. We kept it fairly simple, as though this was an every day experience rather than a big thing. I don't know if we did it right but it worked okay. He knew there was a baby coming and Jacob brought a teddy with him as a present for his big brother. Isaac loved the bear more than the baby. I have a photo of him holding Jacob in the hospital, it's a lovely photo and shows how excited he was to meet him but it didn't last long. The bear won. I'd asked people when they visited to spend time with Isaac first then coo over Jacob. Daddy spent time with him, took him out a lot at the beginning for some fun but we continued the normal routine as much as we could.

I was going to tell you about the one incident we had but will spare you.:D
 
My eldest Isaac was 20 months when his brother arrived. I worried about how he'd take it but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be. I think it's probably simpler the younger they are. We kept it fairly simple, as though this was an every day experience rather than a big thing. I don't know if we did it right but it worked okay. He knew there was a baby coming and Jacob brought a teddy with him as a present for his big brother. Isaac loved the bear more than the baby. I have a photo of him holding Jacob in the hospital, it's a lovely photo and shows how excited he was to meet him but it didn't last long. The bear won. I'd asked people when they visited to spend time with Isaac first then coo over Jacob. Daddy spent time with him, took him out a lot at the beginning for some fun but we continued the normal routine as much as we could.

I was going to tell you about the one incident we had but will spare you.:D

Tell me go on....Ryan will be 22mths so hopefully will be ok. He's started feeding his bunny & sunshine face :8855:with his night time bottle....
 
Olivia was 3 when Rhiannon was born and we included her as much as possible.let her help changes nappies etc we let her decide how involved she wanted to be. I breast fed so she clearly couldnt help with that but was happy to sit by me and watch or stroke baby's head. Her new baby sister also gave her her 1st Barbie as a gift when she arrived.
I also let her help us tell people over the phone of the new arrival which she seemed to get a real big kick out of and was clearly proud.

They fight like cat and dog now of course LOL
 
lol ok well Jacob was 5 days old and we decided to take them out to a farm park. Was a bit ambitious thinking back now but anyway, farm park was fine. Got back exhausted to find the GP on the doorstep, he'd decided to pop in to see the baby. So knowing the house was a mess I already felt awful but we went in. Isaac ran off to get a toy and the doc put jacob back in the car seat so we could chat. Isaac ran in straight up to Jacob and whacked him over the head with a toy. I could have died!! it was the first time he'd done anything and of course it had to be with the doctor there. I was so embarrassed, the doc said it was quite normal but still....I thought how awful we must have looked at that moment, messy house, crying baby, Isaac (also crying, not sure why!)taken off by his dad to learn that you don't hit the baby and me sat there crying.:8855:
 
lol ok well Jacob was 5 days old and we decided to take them out to a farm park. Was a bit ambitious thinking back now but anyway, farm park was fine. Got back exhausted to find the GP on the doorstep, he'd decided to pop in to see the baby. So knowing the house was a mess I already felt awful but we went in. Isaac ran off to get a toy and the doc put jacob back in the car seat so we could chat. Isaac ran in straight up to Jacob and whacked him over the head with a toy. I could have died!! it was the first time he'd done anything and of course it had to be with the doctor there. I was so embarrassed, the doc said it was quite normal but still....I thought how awful we must have looked at that moment, messy house, crying baby, Isaac (also crying, not sure why!)taken off by his dad to learn that you don't hit the baby and me sat there crying.:8855:

I'm sure we'll have moments like this.

When Ryan was a few days old the midwife came around to see we were all ok. We have 2 cats one particularly naughty (goes in the fridge & pulls out ham etc) when she took out the scales to weigh Ryan the cat bloody jumped into the scales before she could put Ryan in there :8855:I could've died so embarassing.
 
My daughtr was was exactly 2 and 6 hours when her little sister arrives. They are now 9 and 7, and up until about 2 years ago absolutely worshipped each other. Little sister arrived with a huge Milo toy for her big sister, which she was well chuffed with. She actuallky spent more timne with me rather than less, as she has been at nursery whilte I worked but I stopped nursery once little one arrived. Loads of people told me I would need the time with the abby, and keep up nursery, but think I made the right decision for the girls, though wrong for me, as i was shattered. I have to say those 2 years between little one being born, and big one strting school, were the best but most exhausting of my life. I just wanted to press pause, I was so happy and loved it so much. Hubbie worked away, and it was just me and my girls!!
 
These things do seem to happen with company around. :giggle:

It sounds like you've prepared Ryan well. It's just a case of involving him as much as he likes however annoying and time consuming it is. Isaac always wanted Jacob's dummy so we bought different ones for each of them and showed Isaac how to get them from the steriliser so he would go and get Jacob's when he was crying, he saw it as his job and got annoyed if I had one handy. Little things like that made him feel grown up but I had to remind myself often he was still a baby too and wanted all the normal snuggling in bed etc.

I'm sure it will be fine, if he plays up a little it's only to be expected.:)
 
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