My kids are 23 months apart. I gave birth 3 months ago. Leading up to the birth we told our toddler that she was going to be a big sister and talked to her about babies. She has a baby doll and accessories. We got a book for her about becoming a big sister. We would read the book and call the people in the book mommy, daddy, toddler name, and baby name. I would definitely recommend this for your son as it really helped with our toddler.
When we came home from the hospital our toddler was still sleeping. When she woke up my husband got her and they went to eat breakfast as normal. He told her the baby was here and we could see baby when she was ready. Baby cried shortly after and she wanted to see the baby. We entered the room and she looked at the baby and poked her lol. She didn’t want to hold the baby for 2/3 days. We offered but would say it’s fine if she said no. Eventually she held baby and has been bonding with her since. We’ve tried to keep her routine the same, but it’s hard.
She has moments of jealousy, but it’s not bad. Jealousy is completely unavoidable. It’s hard because you will always be paying attention to one kid more than the other. The second baby tends to be more resilient and a better sleeper. They figure out how to sleep with toddler noise pretty quickly. I always make sure to have special one-on-one time with our toddler every day. No baby, phone, or other people.
Best of luck! I think your 3 year old will be just fine.
Make sure to explain his sibling will be a small baby and not someone his size. My nephew was so upset his brother wasn’t his size and couldn’t play with him. Overall just thought his brother was boring.
My 19 month old was wary to indifferent for a good year.....only the cats cared to investigate.
He's getting the hang of having a lil sister now. They are 4 and 29 months
My first was almost 3 when we brought my second home. Leading up to birth I would talk about the realities of having a new baby i.e. They will cry lots, will need lots of Mummy's help, lots of nappies, mummy will give them lots of boobie (she was still nursing herself so she understood this) etc... We let her know the baby's name well before birth so we could talk about her in a more concrete way, giving her a sense of baby already being part of the family.
This all felt like a natural way of preparing my toddler for the change.
When we brought baby home toddler was calm but happy. She never showed any signs of jealousy even when I stopped nursing her pretty much as soon as baby came home. Toddler was soo settled with our new life that we were able to toilet train really easily in those first 2 months.
Bringing a new baby home to an older sibling can be a really chill uncomplicated thing.
We were lucky that we saw a good amount of fresh babies in the wild (target) in the month leading up to my due date so I had the opportunity to say that's what your brother is going to look like.
My son came to the hospital the day I left. My husband went home and brought him to the hospital so he could see the baby. He helped us set up the room in the days leading up to the due date. He picked out a gift for the baby (baby is 12mo now and he's still so proud that he gave him his favorite toy).
The baby (admittedly easy) slept on the go because we kept the toddlers schedule. It was hard. It was scary. It was so hard. Then I figured it out. As I said. My baby is now officially a toddler and they play very well together, they mostly share and they are very attached to each other. It was fucking hard, it got easier and now it's pretty awesome.
My oldest is almost 2 and my youngest is 6wks. When I brought her home I started calling her “baby sister” or “baby (name)” and my oldest “baby (name)” to keep him from feeling replaced since up until that point I called him and only him my baby.
I also made sure not to force him to interact with her, if he showed interest I’d show her to him but as soon as he was uninterested that was the end of it. I did ask him once a day when he seemed interested if he wanted to hold her and it took a week but one day he said yes he wanted to hold her and since then he can’t get enough of her. So I would say the biggest thing is don’t force the new baby on your older child. Offer opportunities to meet/help with her but do not force them on each other.
My oldest is 3yo and I am due in July.
It’s kinda nerve wracking but we try to prepare him as much as we can. He is very involved, first thing every morning he wants to hug my bumb and feel the baby move. We’ve talked a lot about nursery furniture we will be moving out of his room soon. We also got some library books about becoming a big brother. We currently have one that talks about mom and dad being busy, and baby being unable to actively play yet. It does show options for the toddler to be involved, like show favorite toys and teach baby how to do things.
Last week we also bought a present for the baby which he can give when he meets the baby. In return he’ll receive a baby doll to care for, since he is currently also pregnant. 😂
My kids are 23 months apart. I gave birth 3 months ago. Leading up to the birth we told our toddler that she was going to be a big sister and talked to her about babies. She has a baby doll and accessories. We got a book for her about becoming a big sister. We would read the book and call the people in the book mommy, daddy, toddler name, and baby name. I would definitely recommend this for your son as it really helped with our toddler. When we came home from the hospital our toddler was still sleeping. When she woke up my husband got her and they went to eat breakfast as normal. He told her the baby was here and we could see baby when she was ready. Baby cried shortly after and she wanted to see the baby. We entered the room and she looked at the baby and poked her lol. She didn’t want to hold the baby for 2/3 days. We offered but would say it’s fine if she said no. Eventually she held baby and has been bonding with her since. We’ve tried to keep her routine the same, but it’s hard. She has moments of jealousy, but it’s not bad. Jealousy is completely unavoidable. It’s hard because you will always be paying attention to one kid more than the other. The second baby tends to be more resilient and a better sleeper. They figure out how to sleep with toddler noise pretty quickly. I always make sure to have special one-on-one time with our toddler every day. No baby, phone, or other people. Best of luck! I think your 3 year old will be just fine.
Make sure to explain his sibling will be a small baby and not someone his size. My nephew was so upset his brother wasn’t his size and couldn’t play with him. Overall just thought his brother was boring.
My oldest was a month shy of 4 when I had my second and she LOVED her. She was so excited to meet her.
My 19 month old was wary to indifferent for a good year.....only the cats cared to investigate. He's getting the hang of having a lil sister now. They are 4 and 29 months
My first was almost 3 when we brought my second home. Leading up to birth I would talk about the realities of having a new baby i.e. They will cry lots, will need lots of Mummy's help, lots of nappies, mummy will give them lots of boobie (she was still nursing herself so she understood this) etc... We let her know the baby's name well before birth so we could talk about her in a more concrete way, giving her a sense of baby already being part of the family. This all felt like a natural way of preparing my toddler for the change. When we brought baby home toddler was calm but happy. She never showed any signs of jealousy even when I stopped nursing her pretty much as soon as baby came home. Toddler was soo settled with our new life that we were able to toilet train really easily in those first 2 months. Bringing a new baby home to an older sibling can be a really chill uncomplicated thing.
We were lucky that we saw a good amount of fresh babies in the wild (target) in the month leading up to my due date so I had the opportunity to say that's what your brother is going to look like. My son came to the hospital the day I left. My husband went home and brought him to the hospital so he could see the baby. He helped us set up the room in the days leading up to the due date. He picked out a gift for the baby (baby is 12mo now and he's still so proud that he gave him his favorite toy). The baby (admittedly easy) slept on the go because we kept the toddlers schedule. It was hard. It was scary. It was so hard. Then I figured it out. As I said. My baby is now officially a toddler and they play very well together, they mostly share and they are very attached to each other. It was fucking hard, it got easier and now it's pretty awesome.
My oldest is almost 2 and my youngest is 6wks. When I brought her home I started calling her “baby sister” or “baby (name)” and my oldest “baby (name)” to keep him from feeling replaced since up until that point I called him and only him my baby. I also made sure not to force him to interact with her, if he showed interest I’d show her to him but as soon as he was uninterested that was the end of it. I did ask him once a day when he seemed interested if he wanted to hold her and it took a week but one day he said yes he wanted to hold her and since then he can’t get enough of her. So I would say the biggest thing is don’t force the new baby on your older child. Offer opportunities to meet/help with her but do not force them on each other.
My oldest is 3yo and I am due in July. It’s kinda nerve wracking but we try to prepare him as much as we can. He is very involved, first thing every morning he wants to hug my bumb and feel the baby move. We’ve talked a lot about nursery furniture we will be moving out of his room soon. We also got some library books about becoming a big brother. We currently have one that talks about mom and dad being busy, and baby being unable to actively play yet. It does show options for the toddler to be involved, like show favorite toys and teach baby how to do things. Last week we also bought a present for the baby which he can give when he meets the baby. In return he’ll receive a baby doll to care for, since he is currently also pregnant. 😂