Is there any point in preparing a 14 month old for a brother or sister arriving?

[walkingwomb]

My DD is 14 months at the moment and I am 6 months preggers (so she will be 17 months when the baby comes). She loves looking at books, but doesn't really pay any attention to when I am reading them to her as she is so busy turning th pages and touching the pictures. So I haven't got any of those new baby preparation books.

Is this likely to change over the next three month? I wasn't going to even think about anything for another couple of months anyway.

[bigchris]

i would carry on with the books
Spots baby sister is a nice one
Have you tried your local library, they usually do nice ones about babies and siblings

[sleepsforwimps]

My dd was 19 months when my ds was born and tbh as much as she would point to my tummy if I said 'where's the baby in mummy's tummy' she didn't really understand what was going on when he arrived. I do think though it was the perfect age for him to arrive as she doesn't remember him ever not being here. What I did do was buy her a new doll with a little carseat/carrier type thing which she thought was great when we went out being just like mummy with her baby. Although when at the supermarket her lil bro had to be carried around in a sling as she wanted her baby strapped in the trolley next to her!

[alana39]

I had DS2 when DS1 was 18 months old. We didn't do anything particular to prepare him, other than talk to him about it and get him to feel the baby moving. I did try to get him to spend some time with friends' babies, but they only held his attention for about 20 seconds. Was completely different when his own brother arrived and he was all over him (a bit too literally!). He couldn't really talk much at that stage but you never know what's going in so I think it's better to tell them all about it as they are probably taking in more than you think.

[walkingwomb]

Thanks guys. I will start mentioning it more and maybe get a few books soon. I was going to do the doll thing as she doesn't have any at the moment and will hopefully be in full imitating mode then!

[Laui59]

Was wondering the same, i'm 7wks pregant and little boy is 10 months now - will be 17 months when baby arrives so nice to know what to expect... was hoping he kinda understand a little.. so all good.. love the comment that they never rememeber a time when the other wasn't there as i rememeber when my little sis came and hated it.. lol we are very close now though.. lol

[GinaFordAteMyBaby]

I'm due next week and DD is 19 months. I got one book last week, which she didn't seem that interested in and so we didn't even get to the end. I'm never sure how much she's taking in so we just talk to her about it a bit and have upped the ante recently so when we've done things like put the crib up we've told her it's for the baby. She'll point at my stomach and say 'baby', but not as much as she'll point at my husband's stomach and say 'baby'.

I'm planning a homebirth and I'm quite relaxed about the prospect of her being around should it be on one of the days that she's not in nursery or if she wakes up in the night. I mentioned to my doula that I'd thought about showing her a video but then thought maybe that would be a bit much, but doula thought it might be a good way to gague how she'd handle the whole thing. So we watched a bit of The Business of Birth today and she saw a few gentle births and seemed quite excited by the whole thing - lots of 'baby, baby, baby'.

But like you say, I wouldn't worry about it yet as 3 months is a LONG time for a little one, and then do what you feel comfortable with.

[malfoy]

DS was 20 months when DD arrived. I did get some books but I think he was clueless.

I agree with alana39, seeing other people's babies made no difference either.