introducing your newborn baby?

[miss.s88]

I am due to give birth to my second baby and am slightly worried about how to go about introducing my daughter who is one to her brother or sister. I am a single mum and she has always only had me in her life, can anyone give me any advice?
my one year old loves other babies and children but bringing another baby home permenantly worries me about how she will take to it, I personally can't wait. I have tried involving her in the pregnancy and talking about the new baby but she still seems to young to understand. I'll give the bring her a gift from baby a try

 

[Dianne]

Have her come to the hospital and hang with you in bed. Introduce them there. You said she has only had you in her life. Now it's gonna be the three of you. She will adjust to that. Make sure you don't leave them alone without supervision though.

 

[MsFruhauf]

My 4 year old daughter was very excited to meet the baby when i had her, but to be honest, once she realized she cant do anything, she went back to just messing around with stuff in the hospital room. I'm not sure about other kids though, because my older girl is a very very good big sister, who always wanted more kids around to play with and has never been jealous of the baby.

It will all depend on your kids personality, and you making sure you still give the older one the same love and attention as always =)

PS: with the personality thing... shy kids that have a hard time making new friends/playing with other kids (the type that always tug your skirt and hide behind your legs at the playground) are more the type to be jealous of the new baby. Does your older kid like playing with others or are they more of a "crybaby" (not to be offensive, just trying to clarify my point) If they like playing with other kids and get along well with other kids the new baby shouldn't be any problem at all.

 

[LadyRavnos]

what i did with my kids is that all through out my pregnancy i had already started having my 2 yr old treat 'the belly' as a sibling. within 3 minutes of first seeing his brother he wanted to hold him, so i let him sit on my lap while i was holding baby, and when the nurse came in to check baby's temp my 2 yr old put his arms around baby and said 'No, my baby' he wouldn't let anyone he didn't know even touch baby. baby is almost 3 months old now and my 2 yr old still sometimes demands to hold his little brother. Most times little girls love to play with their dollies so maybe get her a baby doll for her to take care of and teach her about how to take care of her new sibling. But make sure you set a bit of time aside each week to spend exclusively with your 1 yr old. other wise she may feel like you are replacing her with the new baby. but also let her spend a bit of time holding or playing with her new sibling.

 

[samAnThA]

let her help with stuff like putting nappy's in the bin and holding the bottle