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Behaviour/development

DS 3.2 Emotional outburst over new baby

1 reply

dodi1978 · 04/10/2016 04:18

Hi,

new baby arrived last Thursday morning. DS1 didn't go to nursery Thursday and Friday as granparents were around to help out and of course dad was off, too. We collected the baby and me from hospital together Friday afternoon.
His reaction to baby was good and continued to be good all weekend - gently stroking baby, asking questions about him, bringing him toys, observing nappy changes.
Yesterday (Monday) he went back to nursery for the first time as we want to keep him in his routone. Unfortunately, he didn't have the most normal start back at nursery as on Sunday night he spent five hours at A&E with dad, having put a pea up his nose at dinner 😊!
So he only arrived at nursery at lunchtime and apparently had a long emotional outburst.... couldn't stop crying for an hour! This is very not like him.
I can only assume that this was because everyone is asking about his little brother, or mentioning him now being a big brother. Lots of change for him to deal with 😯.
Anyhow, have you got any experiences of how to help in the shirt term? Our routines will certainly be different for the time being. Norally it's me doing breakfast and nursery run, but dad is currently taking over to help me dal with cluster feeding!

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WombOfOnesOwn · 05/10/2016 21:49

Has he been to A&E a lot? If not, are you sure you're not projecting about the idea that the outburst "must" be about the baby? If he's been very sweet and kind to the baby, it seems like perhaps this outburst could be more related to his A&E visit something which can be very overwhelming and disconcerting for a child. The first time I had a medical emergency requiring that, at age 4, I was shocked and scared for days afterward by what I'd seen of the hospital I remember someone who must have had jaundice from the waiting room, and being terrified of the way they looked.

I wouldn't assume, with the tumult he's experienced so far, that this will ever happen again (or at least not like this). I'd advise not making a big deal of it, just treating it like an ordinary day as much as you can. If he figures out that acting up at nursery is a great way to get a long, drawn-out conversation with mum and dad at night, he'll start doing it more often as the baby draws away your attention.

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