mummy horse baby horse

[bookswapper]

my 2.10 ds has a 5 month old brother. baby bfs and cosleeps with me. tonight toddler brought me his book with a mummy horse and baby horse in a stable together and asked lots of questions about straw, being chilly, drinking milk out of nipples...he asked me to get in to bed with him and snuggle and i did but eventually left.

dh has just been in to check and he had the book in bed with him with his fingers on the horse/stable picture

is he anxious? why now? i am no good at child pschology (or spelling) and could do with some advice on how to help him with whstever is bothering him....

baby him for a bit. He's probably just noticed the similarity between the relationship you have with your baby and the relationship the mummy horse has with the baby horse, and is wondering where he fits in.

Sounds very normal to me. Ds (3.2) takes all sorts of things to bed with him - books, lego, etc. It probably started around the age your ds is.

He is just being curious with his questions as he works out the mother and child relationship.

And yes there might be a tiny bit of him wanting some time alone with you at bedtime

Books about animals don't tend to have "big brother horse" characters, so he maybe needs some reassurance of how he fits into the story, and how he's still your "baby" too.

I think you are all right
He is just starting playgroup where I have been trying to leave him for two hours twice a week and its not going well...he cried and tantrummed today because "I want my mummy" and its been three weeks now of this...the playgroup have said taht if he doesn't improve by next week then maybe he should leave and try again later in the year....

I am going to try and change his days to consecutive days and get my mum to go with him...

and of course the baby horse's name was....yes, his baby brother's...but he wouldn't say it....we mentioned all sorts of names but we both knew what the foal was called....

spent most of tonight in tears...should get a grip really

It sounds like he's needing reassurance from you - I've only got one child so I never had to go through this, but I think the advice is to make sure you get 1-1 time with the older child, to make sure they don't feel pushed out. You could maybe try to find a book which is positive and encouraging about being an older brother (people or animals!) to give him a "story" where he can see how he fits in. A lot of books are just "muumy & baby" and that must add to the unsettled feeling.

If you're wanting to leave him at playgroup, could you also find a way to leave baby somewhere at other times? Maybe with your mum, or in a creche, just so he sees it's normal and not you pushing him away?

thanks amum...went to library yeaterday and got a book about Little Rabbits New Baby...the rabbit feels pushed out by the new baby rabbits' arrivals but they end up adoring him...guess what...he loves it and we've read it over and over

today I took them both to the playpark and played with him exclusively while the baby slept

I will try harder leaving the baby elsewhere - I had planned to but I am bf-ing and find it difficult to express to leave him anywhere

thanks for all replies I needed the reassurance I think!