Resources to Prepare My Daughter for the Arrival of Her Brother

My daughter was 2 when her brother was born. Before he arrived, we read What Can Our New Baby Do? by Joan Holub. It's very funny and even she could understand the humor. We would make jokes and references to it after he was born. Like, "he can't eat polar bears! What does he eat?" These jokes would diffuse jealousy when I was breastfeeding.

The other book we love is I'm a Big Sister by Joanna Cole. We read this after he arrived. We make references to it all the time. She loves this book and pretty much has it memorized. So my 2-year old highly recommends these books!

One more idea - since they probably won't let your daughter in to the hospital to see the baby, take pictures of him and have someone upload them to your computer at home so she can watch a slideshow of him. Also, a friend of mine printed out some of the pictures and laminated them so my 2 year old could have her own pictures of her brother. Seeing/having pictures of her brother got her really excited about him.

I used the book/video set "I Watched My Brother Being Born" and it was absolutely terrific!

http://www.homebirthvideos.com/iwatched_dvd.asp

We wanted our son (3 years old) to be present at our birth, and he had no problems at all. He also loved this video and book, and demanded to see them repeatedly. Having our son at our birth really lessened the jealousy factor as well. However, I think this set would be great even if you don't intend to have your daughter at your birth - kind of a "this is how our baby will be born, and then we'll let you see him!"

I also just got on YouTube and found good birth videos to show him, and he loved them!

Blessings, and congratulations on your new little one!

I liked Tara's idea of a slideshow. Mostly I just constantly told my boys that we were having a new member of our family coming. I'd ask "Are you ready to be a good big brother?" and such. My youngest will be 3.5 when his sister will be born in the next two weeks or so. Now I am really talking to him constantly about the baby while being sure to comfort him and cuddle him. We talk about how to make the new baby welcome in the family.

Its hard for her to really understand what is going on at this age, Just keep talking about the baby, when the baby comes, let her be as involved in the baby as much as you can so she does not feel left out.. When the baby is here is super hard to give her the special attention that she needs, My son would do things that he knew he was not allowed to do to get attention, once he knew there was a curtain part of the day, planned to spend time with him alone, he adjusted a little easier.. COngrats on the new little one, I hope everything goes well, and her being a big sister, I am sure she will love it because she will feel like a big girl.

There is a book called "I am the Big Sister". I bought I am the big brother. Not sure of the author. I also had "What to expect when mommy is expecting" again dont remember the author. Then I took my son to every appointment. When she was born we bought him a present to give her and one for her to give him. I alos let him hold her and help hold the bottle for her. He would bring books for us to read together when I nursed or gave her a bottle. Know that she is going to want to touch and hold the baby just as much as you. As long as she is not sick let her it helps them get to know one another.

I bought my son a new babydoll to have when I brought home his sister.

I don't know of any books but my son was about the same age when I had my daughter and the way I handled it was I had him know there was a baby in mommy's tummy and he would be a big brother. He wanted to always touch my belly and kiss it and even talk to the baby. But my in laws got him a book that was called I'm a big brother and that helped as well we read it to him at night. There are books called I'm a big sister and they are available at walmart. Also if you have her help you with the baby stuff like folding clothes or handing you something to put up she can say I helped get ready for my brother. The funniest part is when they touch your tummy and the baby kicks you can say he is saying hi to her and can't wait to meet her.