how did yall prepare the first kid for the new baby? She is 5 years old and excited but she has been acting a little differently since we told her. I’m afraid she feels left out or like we love her less. I just need to know how to help her realize that we are all family and I’m gonna love both of my babies with all my heart.
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Buy her a gift and tell her it’s a special gift to her from the baby. It helps if you refer to the baby as her baby too. My son’s also five and this age, though tricky sometimes, definitely gets a little easier with the gift/rewards system. 🩷
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I bought my daughter a big sister shirt to wear the day my son was born. Let her help pick out things for him, let her “help” me with him once he was born. No matter what you do, it will be an adjustment period for her, but make sure mom or dad, or both, are making some one on one time for her every so often.
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Have your oldest help setup the babies room with you. Also, make some changes to theirs to so they see they are just important (can be a whole makeover or just let them pick out a few things for them to add to theirs). Get the oldest a gift, book (something about: Big sisters are the best) and maybe a couple treats that is just for her to have. Wrap them all up and have her open them after baby is born and make sure she knows it’s from the baby. Make sure in that crazy first while adjustment period that you keep chatting with your oldest how they feel, anything upsetting them, do they feel included and loved. If they say no, ask them how you can make them feel loved and special. Also, it’s great if you can spend one on one time with them when the baby is napping.
Buy her something and make it from the baby. I know this has helped other children…
My eldest use to sing to the bump and talk to it x
Just do your best to include her. Have her be a big helper once the baby arrives. Maybe get her a special doll so she can take care of her baby too. You can have her pick out a special gift for the baby but also have a special gift from the baby to her. There are some “becoming a big sister” books you can look into. Once the baby arrives make sure you set aside some one on one time with just her and you and her and dad. Right now it’s a big “topic” of discussion and she made be feeling some anxiety from the excitement but that doesn’t mean she’s not happy.
As you’re setting things up or whatever, and you want to tell her about the baby, tell her in stories about her. Like “i can’t wait to see if he/she has your eyes” or “when you were a baby i used to rock you in that chair etc etc etc” just to help get her excited and she’ll know that you used to do those things for her. Easier to do when the baby is actually here though.
My oldest honestly was against having siblings. I stopped at 3 kids. Whenever they get into it she says I wish I never had sister.
It’s all about damage control tbh. Just gotta breath and remind them that this person is here and they gotta try to get along
Got them involved in buying and prepping for the newborn x
Let her help! My daughter was 5 when my second baby was born. I included her in everything I did with baby sister. I let her help change diapers, dress her, hold her, feed her, play with her when she started holding toys, and picking out things for her sister.
All of my children are 5 years apart. I have 4 (20f, 20f, 15m and 10f).
I included them in everything that I could.
I took them to sonogram appointments.
I let them help me pick out baby stuff - clothes, toys, bottles etc.
I let them help me decorate and set stuff up.
Once their sibling arrived, I continued to include them in as much as possible.
“Can you babysit while I XYX” (Sit beside the baby while they’re in the swing, while I run the vacuum).
“Can you get the baby their new diaper/bottle/binky?”
“What should baby wear today?”
“Here, shake the baby’s bottle.”
Doing this helped my older one(s) feel included and it made it so that I was able to share my attention - and accomplish stuff around the house while they “babysat”.
Tell her you love her more cause that second baby, whooooo lmao. Really though just include her and let her make some decisions regarding stuff for the baby. Try to start getting her used to the idea how routines change before the baby comes, parents forget until after the baby a lot of times and the first kid is really confused why they aren’t getting stuff at the same time anymore or why there is crying at 3 am…