Helping Your Children Welcome a New Baby

Laura Fleenor
Laura Fleenor, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Apr 25, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Helping your children welcome a new baby into the family can be a difficult task. It was especially hard for my son to welcome home a new sister in 2001 after losing a sister in 1998, to heart defects. He was so afraid that his new sister would also pass away.

My son was 6 years old when my daughter passed away, so when I told him that I was pregnant again in 2001, he was not happy at all. He was just starting to get over the loss of his baby sister. It wasn't until my new baby girl was about 3 months old, my son came to me and said "Mom, I think she is going to live!". I tear up just thinking of that day. From that day forward he began to spend more and more time with his new sister.

Five years after the baby girl that changed my son's life, we were proud to welcome home another baby girl. My five year old was extremely excited to become a big sister and could not wait to see her. We explained to her many times during the pregnancy that the new baby is going to take up a lot of Mommy and Daddy's time, and that it did not mean that we loved her any less. She was very excited to give many of her old toys to the baby, which she reclaimed before the new baby was even here, but it was very nice of her to even consider it.

Try to help your child realize the extend of how much time a new baby can consume, and make sure they know that in time, you will gradually gain more of your time back to spend with them.

Include your children in as many baby related duties as you can. Helping them feed the new baby will allow them to feel a sense of pride for their new baby and the fact that they could help you out.

My five year old continues to call her baby sister "our baby." Whenever we go somewhere she tells people, "Our baby has 2 teeth." or something similar. Our children luckily have never shown any jealousy toward one another, and I feel that it was due to the fact that we kept our children included in every aspect of the pregnancy and arrival of their new sister, that we possibly could.

Published by Laura Fleenor

I am a divorced mother of 4 children (one in heaven), college graduate, and a webmaster. I was born and raised in Southern Indiana, and have also lived in the Tampa, Florida area.  View profile

  • Try to help your child realize the extend of how much time a new baby can consume.
  • Include your children in as many baby related duties as you can.
Our children luckily have never shown any jealousy toward one another, and I feel that it was due to the fact that we kept our children included in every aspect of the pregnancy and arrival of their new sister, that we possibly could.

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