preparing toddler for arrival of sibling

B

bagel

Registered User
Hello ladies,

I will deliver later this year and am wondering what approaches I should use to prepare my toddler for the arrival of his sibling. Any particular methods, tips, insights and experiences from mums that helped to ease the transition for the older child would be appreciated.

Thank you so much for your collective wisdom!
 
-We read a lot of books about the new babies arrival and on becoming a Big Sister and how special that was.

-We were sure to talk a lot about the baby in Mommy's tummy and how it was "her baby."

-We also found out the gender of baby #2 so it wouldn't be a surprise, or a let down for her.

-We allowed her to pick out a gift for the new baby. Something special that was just from her.

-We also included our daughter in ultrasound visits so she could see "her baby" in Mommy's tummy.

-When baby was born she received a wrapped gift that was a special gift for the day her sister was born. In our case, it was a very nice baby doll.

-Once baby arrived we made a lot of positive comments again about how her new little sister was "her baby" and what a great helper she was and allowed her to do little things like fetch baby wipes, give baby her pacifier and (with help) feed her a bottle of EBM.

A year later, I still use a lot of positive reinforcement with comments like:
-"You two love each other so much!"
-to the oldest "Your little sister looks up to you so much. She wants to be just like you."
-"It makes me so happy/ proud that my two sweeties love each other so much and are so nice to each other!"

It has worked for us and my children are very good together. There was never a problem introducing a sibling for my first daughter.
 
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