Involve him in cuddles and those sorts of things

We made sure we included our first born in as much as possible. We took him to ultrasounds, he helped put together cots & bouncer etc. He also picked some toys for bub.

When he was born, he was premmy so as soon as he was out of intensive care, my boy came into the hospital & got to see him & hold his tiny hands. He fell in love with his little brother instantly. He came to the hospital as much as possible & then was amazing when we bought him home. My big helper.

Hubby bought our older kids into hospital to meet the new additions. We didn’t experience any major sibling rivalry issues, not that I noticed anyway

One thing you need to do is ask visitors and those you visit is talk to your older child before fussing over you newborn. So many people don’t realise that the older feels so left out when that keeps happening. They have suddenly gone from being fussed over to nothing. The feel it after a couple of weeks if it persists.

I agree about the doll thing but my daughter was never in to dolls as such.
I found it great to get a “gift” from the baby. Anything I would do with bub I would try to include her in it as much as possible

Also it is good for your child to see their friends having little brothers and sisters being born, that way they are emotionally getting ready for bubs arrival.

Try getting a baby doll for the child to practice on for a while before the birth. When you give birth try and give the older sibling lots of attention and cuddles with the new bubba.

As well as the above ideas, it might help to get the older child their own ‘baby’ to practice on before hand.

We hot a little gift and I packed in my hospital bag and when hubby bought our older Bub we gave it to him and said it was a pressie from baby.

Our oldest was 3 when his little sister was born. We made sure that he “bonded” with bub by touching my belly often, talking to him about “baby” and how they’re going to be wonderful friends when she comes out. I also organised a little “gift pack” for him from his sister. Also, daddy took a bit of time off to ease him into the new phase by spending lots of time with him after her birth. He was also the first to see bub in the family (in hospital) and the bond happened immediately which was a relief1

There’s some cute books you can get and read beforehand, like ‘there’s a house in mummy’s tummy’.
When bub does come have your older one ‘help’ even though they’re little. Like ‘let’s go get the nappy together’ so they get excited about doing things for the new baby.

Congrats and good luck!

Talk about the fact that the baby is going and that you are going to need a helper. Perhaps even purchase a gift to give to your older child from the baby when its born with a card from the baby explaining how much fun they will have together and what great friends they’ll be

We had the baby in the bassinet with a little gift for our eldest. She was the first to meet the new baby and learn her name. We then let her introduce everyone else (when she was there) to her new sister. We also make sure that every weekend she gets one on one time with either mum or dad. For a walk or lunch or something. Good luck.