You are pregnant and excited! The new little baby is due for delivery in just a few months and even your other children are picking up on the excitement in the house.
If you have other children this is a time to carefully plan how and when to tell them about the new baby and then how to support them through the pregnancy and the delivery of their new little brother or sister.
Bringing another baby into the home is an exciting and disruptive time in the lives of young children. Even teens find that a new baby disrupts sleep and decreases the amount of time mom has to drive them to their own events.
Preparing other children for the new baby and understanding the reactions to the new baby from everyone from daddy to your youngest child falls to both mom and dad.
When and how to tell your other children will really depend upon their age and development. Well start with the children who have the most difficulty understanding and accepting another little one in the house. If your child is between 2 and 3 they are still very self-centered and self-absorbed.
They will have a difficult time sharing your attention, their possessions and your time. You can start to tell them about the event when you begin to furnish the nursery, buy baby clothes and bring his old crib into the bedroom.
This is a great time to get a picture book about how babies develop and are born. There are great resources available to help you explain and show pictures that they can understand. They may have questions about where babies come from and these books can help you explain with colored pictures. If your hospital offers a sibling class take advantage of the time to teach them about their new sibling and show them where mommy will be staying for a few days.
Any changes that you may be making to the youngster schedule such as potty training, sleeping schedules, crib to bed or starting nursery school should be done well before the baby is born. If that’s not possible, wait until after the baby is born and the schedule at home is settled. Toddlers depend greatly on their daily routine so when you upset the apple cart by bringing in another little person you can expect that they wont be able to handle the routine changes well.
Changing your youngsters schedule or asking them to learn a new independent skill close to the time the new baby is born may make them feel as though it is their siblings fault that they must move to a new daycare or start nursery school.
When your child is four or five you can begin to tell them when you are telling your friends and family. They’ll hear from those who know and they should know from you. By this time they’ve probably noticed others who are pregnant and may have even asked you a question or two before this. Now is a wonderful time to help them understand the mechanics of pregnancy, answer their questions and show them books that are wonderfully illustrated to bring home the point.
Preparing other children for the new baby includes understanding the reactions that each of your children may exhibit in the first few weeks. Don’t be surprised if you children regress in their behaviors. For instance your potty trained three year old may want a diaper or the five year old may demand his security blanket. This is just their way of communicating their insecurity about their place in the family.
They need the reassurance that you still love them, care for them and their new little sibling hasn’t taken their place in your heart. Give them the reassurances they need the diaper, the bottle or the blanket and within days they should have reverted back to their normal behavior as they realize that their new brother or sister hasn’t taken their place.
When you are at the hospital you can call home frequently and encourage them to visit and meet their new sibling. If a visit isn’t possible then a digital camera with pictures of mom and new little one is a great way to help them through this time.
You can also have a special gift for your other children when they visit you at the hospital or when you leave to go (if they cant visit). Make this a give that they will remember. If your other child is a girl you may want to consider a baby doll so she has a baby just like mommy.
During both the conception process and throughout pregnancy it is important that hopeful moms maintain their physical well-being and as well as their psychological health.
This broad field of women’s health includes psychological issues surrounding mood, stress and relaxation, as well as physical areas such as infertility, nutrition, morning sickness, labor and delivery and more.
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