Birth of a second child

Finding out you are pregnant is one of the most wonderful things you can experience, the happiness and joy you felt with your first child were beyond measure, and now you find out you are pregnant again, this can be an exciting time not just for you but for your little one as well…

If you have a toddler or young child, it can be quite a daunting time for them to find out that they are now going to have to share you and your time with their little brother or sister, so we have put together a few tips to help involve them and prepare them for the impending birth. If handled correctly it can be something that they will look forward to instead of worry about.

A bit of harmless sibling rivalry is going to be inevitable but being proactive beforehand can have a big impact on how your children’s relationship develops.

Some Handy Tips:

Announcing the pregnancy: Once they can see your tummy is growing is the ideal time to break the news to them. Get used to your toddler talking about the new baby, look at babies in books or magazines, you could maybe even build a baby scrapbook together, just be sure to not talk about the new baby too much we don’t want them feeling pushed out.

Involve them: Toddlers love to help, give them little jobs to do with your pregnancy, like helping you decorate the nursery, choosing the colour scheme, or buy toys or books for the new baby.

Show them baby: It would be lovely to share your baby scan with your toddler, rather than just imagining their little baby brother or sister they will be able to see them on screen. Some hospitals will not allow you to take children into the scan but here at Peek a baby we think it’s amazing for the family to be involved and enjoy and share the baby scan experience, we have various packages available, and for £20 your little one can even take home an 8” teddy bear with a 10-second recording of your baby’s heartbeat. *(ask us before the scan for details)

Enough love for two: Make sure you tell your toddler how much you love them and how you will have lots of love (more than enough for both) for when the new baby arrives.

Talk to them: Talk about how they behaved when they were a baby, toddlers love hearing about things they did when they were tiny, what clothes they wore, what toys they played with, perhaps you have some old clothes of theirs that you could now dress their dolls or teddys in, this will also give them an opportunity to hold their toys and get them used to holding “a baby”