How to Prepare 14 Month Old for New Arrival

My two are exactly 15 months apart. As the other moms said there really isn't much you can do to prepare your 1st born. We did the same as others and talked about having a new baby and read some books, but overall at 15 months they really won't know much of a difference if you can just try to continue to provide them alot of attention...hopefully you have some family and friends that can help as you care for your newborn. I was overly concerned and my pediatrician said your oldest will never know the difference and he was right. My daughter doesn't and won't ever remember life without her little brother and vice versa...our son won't remember a time without his big sister in his face...ha! It will all work out as you said. I'll tell you its hard at the beginning b/c you'll be so tired but in the long run you will LOVE having them so close together. To watch my two interact is so wonderful and such a blessing. Good luck to you and your family!

My 2nd & 3rd children are barely 17 mo. apart. My then 17 mo. old son was pretty clueless and didn't really care about a new baby sister in the house. We had read him and his older sister (3 1/2 at the time) a lot of books on new babies and looked at their baby albums together. We also got them both a "baby" of their own. American Girl has Bitty Baby twins where you can pick the gender, hair color and eye color. The new baby gave them a "baby" that looked like them when they came to meet her at the hospital. One thing I've learned is to start letting your husband do more of your son's daily routine like giving him a bath and putting him to bed. That way, when you are in the hospital or if you are busy feeding the baby it won't be a disruption to his normal routine. When I found out that I was having 2 so close together, I was terrified. Now as I see them play together (they are almost 3 and 1 1/2 now) I am so thankful that they are so close. Your's will have an awesome bond. Congrats!

it'll all be fine- being aware of his feelings is the best you can do- If he can grasp the idea of giving the baby a gift- that's always nice- but it'll all be perfect!
Just make is a point to ask visitors to visit with him first before rushing to you and the baby- It wases the pain and lets him know that he's still important- but the majority of people stop in and rush to the new baby. I alerted people and it worked out great.

Good luck!
D. Sansone
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I have a 20 month old, and I would not be certain how to prepare him at this age - moreless one that's 6 months younger. My 2 are 25 months apart, and I can say that we did a lot of talking about the "baby in mommy's tummy" when I was pregnant. We also read a few new big brother books that talked about babies. He did AWESOME with his baby brother, but he was already fascinated with babies. My youngest has never been around babies much as he and his buddies are the youngest in our group of friends. I am not sure how he would do around a baby. All of that to say, do the best you can to talk about the baby and include him in picking out things for the baby. Maybe read a few books. Blessings on your new arrival. Congratulations!

Get a doll and start pretending it is the new baby. Allow your son to "help" in ways that he CAN, but NEVER allow him to hold it on his own (this will reinforce that he can not do this with the real baby).

When it gets closer to delivery, go OUTSIDE with about 3 to 6 eggs that you have drawn faces on before the activity. Hand one to him and tell him, "Be careful with it." When it breaks, you will have the opportunity to discuss that he needs to be careful or he will "hurt" it. By the time you get to the 3rd or 4th egg, he should at least understand what "be careful" means. This is a very important term for a new sibling to grasp at this age.

I hope it helps. :o)

Blessings on the new baby; I'm sure they will become close.

P. <><

When he sees him for the first time, he'll be a little suspicious, but he'll soon fall deeply in love. He'll adopt the baby as 'his bro' and proudly show him off to everyone. There's nothing you can really do except explain that he'll have a brother to play with and share with and a built in best friend... he won't understand much at that age. Mine are 15 mos. apart, and that is the greatest gift I could give to my kids (each other).