Any recommendations on books to prepare for new sibling?

[MWestie]

Hi, I'm expecting DC2 in June and would like to get some books for DS 3.7, to help him with the idea of having a new baby brother/sister.

He's not good with new experiences at all so I want to do anything in advance to help minimise the shock of the new arrival!

I'm aware this has probably been asked before, will also try searching...

Many thanks.

We had a lovely one called "There's A House Inside My Mummy" - I will look for a link. It deals more with the pregnancy though rather than what will happen in the house when baby arrives.

one

I will try again this one

Thanks, Carrotsandcelery, that's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for! Amazon order coming up I think...

It rhymes and is very gentle. My dd was 3 and 7 months when ds arrived and it was perfect for us.

I agree, that's a good one for before the baby is born.

Also, lots of Shirley Hughes's books feature lovely, positive sibling relationships - the 'Nursery Collection' ones, Two Shoes New Shoes, Colours, Chatting etc, featuring a little girl and her baby brother were invaluable to me when my second baby was born (I had a dd first and then a ds) as they feature familiar scenarios that we could talk about together.

You might find her 'Alfie' books - eg this one! more useful as you have a ds first, as Alfie is a really kind and responsible big brother.

We've also got this one
and Waiting for Baby which goes with My New Baby
The last two are really nice because they are only pictures.

oh yes, we had those two pookamoo - worked brilliantly because ds was under 2 when dd was on the way.

We've also inherited "When the Bears Came" (sorry, no author too lazy to go check and "A Baby for Grace" (Written by Ian Whybrow) - they both deal lightly and reassuringly with slightly older kids' feeling left out the day the baby arrives home. The illustrations in the latter one are astonishingly beautiful.

I liked this one

www.amazon.co.uk/Ever-So-Kes-Gray/dp/0340873345/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295878979&sr=1-1

everyone thinks the baby is so clever and the little girl feels left out

Gah, I raced on here to recommend Annie Rose is my Little Sister, and tikabilla beat me to it. IMO all the Shirley Hughes books are wonderful - if DS1&2 grow up to be anything like that, I'll be a happy mummy. Dogger is another good one, with big sister being very kind to little brother.

Also, I read Horrid Henry the other day, and it actually made me cry . It really brought home to me how hard it is for an older sibling to have to adapt to a new baby (though DS1 didn't seem that interested in it).

Incidentally, I didn't do any other preparation for the arrival of DS2 (now 5 months) than a bit of Shirley Hughes-ing (and talking to DS1 about it, obviously), and my oversensitive and high maintenance lovely little boy has just been wonderful, wonderful, wonderful with the baby. Good luck!

Sorry for beating you to it Elusive! I love Dogger too - it always makes me feel a little bit tearful actually, the way Bella is so kind to Dave! Nothing beats a bit of Shirley Hughes for comfort reading I reckon!

Wow, thank you for all these other suggestions, will definitely look these up too. Although Dogger always makes me tearful too for some reason, and at the moment everything makes me tearful so might have to steel myself for that...

And ElusiveMoose, you've given me some hope that my own hyper sensitive and full-on little DS will be able to cope!

Thanks, Titus, will check that one out too!

I can recommend Bia Gets a New Baby Brother, it has great bright pictures and easy language.

Ooops just come back to this - thanks KPBS for that suggestion.

Another vote for 'There's a house inside my Mummy' and also for 'Annie-Rose is my little sister.'. Admittedly DS pretty much thinks he is Alfie however, and we seem to have reinforced this by calling DD Annie!

Thanks Limelight - have ordered House in Mummy book as so many are recommending it here - fingers crossed it helps!

We liked "I want a sister" by tony Ross and " za za's baby brother" by lucy cousins.

I came on to recommend "House inside my mummy" too. Worked a treat for DS who was 3.1 when DD arrived. Should have known I'd be too late!!

Lovely thing is that he still loves reading it even now and talking about when his DSis was still inside my tummy. V cute.

House inside my mummy and anything my Shirley Hughes is fab. Not book related but . . . on recommendation of my childminder I carried a baby doll around the house so my daughter could see that Mummy wasn't always able to pick her up. I used to pretend to breastfeed the dolly too and she would copy with her teddy. Got her used to idea of a new baby being around. Sounds odd I know but it worked for us!

Thanks for all your suggestions!