subject: Getting Your Older Children Ready For When A New Baby Will Come [print this page] Though many photos albums are full of cheery photos of the new little one and the older brothers and sisters, it does not always start this way. The dynamics of your family will often change dramatically when a new child is born. There is quite a lot of preparation that must happen before the delivery of a baby. When it arrives, that new baby is going to be wanting and needing a great deal of attention. If all of this attentiveness is spent only on the newborn, then the slightly older siblings might become jealous and make a scene as a way to get attention. In order to help this to be an easier change to deal with, there are a few things that the mother and father can do through the first several days to make older kids feel more relaxed and not so frustrated and confused.
During the Pregnancy
It is advisable to take into consideration the maturity levels of your youngsters before sharing the great news with them about your pregnancy. You must be comfortable with the security of the pregnancy too. Children who are very young are not as sure to understand if you tell them too much ahead of time in the pregnancy. When a child is this age their sense of time is not very well formulated yet. It is good if the mom and dad can inform their child what time of year the new baby will be coming. As an example, if you have a newborn coming in December you might tell your little ones that their new sibling will be coming near Christmas. Parents should always be honest when their children ask them questions. For those parents who are not comfortable discussing where babies come from with their kids, there are many books out there that are age appropriate for a mother or father to read with their kid.
Becoming Acquainted With the New Infant
When parents present the baby to the older siblings for the very first time, they really should have someone else there to hold the baby. Every sibling should be allowed to hold the infant. This is a wonderful time for the parents to snap some excellent shots for family photo albums, while simultaneously making the older sisters and brothers feel more like they are part of the special event. If a brother or sister is especially young, make sure an adult is sitting with the sibling to them with holding up the infant. This will allow the parents to have free hands when introducing the new baby. And both parents should set aside some specific one-on-one time for each sibling. As little as ten or fifteen minutes will improve the behavior of your kid. During this one-on-one time period, parents need to let the sibling pick an activity. Allow the sibling to fully express their feelings for the new baby and the adjustments that have happened.
Delivering the Newborn Baby to Your Home
Once you get home, it is likely that you will get several visitors coming to welcome the new infant. The parents should discreetly request that the visitors give the same amount of consideration to the other kids if they can. This will allow them to feel as though they are special on that day. The older brothers and sisters ought to be permitted to help with caring for the new baby. Parents may want to permit them to push a stroller, help with the bath time or even try changing the baby's diaper. Older siblings really should not be expected to be automatically independent once the baby arrives home. These older siblings will still need babying to some extent so that they can adjust quicker. The mom and dad should help the older brothers and sisters realize the nice things about being older, like choosing what they want to eat, selecting what they wear, and getting to not wear a diaper. With just a little effort, parents can help make bringing a new baby home very easy for older children in the home. When this event is joyous, there are some wonderful memories to catch for those family photo albums.
When you utilize these great hints you will definitely feel more at ease about the comfort of your older children when your new baby makes his or her entrance.
