Is there anything I can do to prepare dd for new arrival?

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

She's 18 months and baby is due in 3 months. She doesn't talk yet but understands a lot - follows lots of instructions, knows animal names, etc. So I feel as though I should probably try and prepare her a little bit but am not sure how - any ideas?

I met up with a friend and held her younger baby yesterday and dd got a bit upset, which did stress me out slightly as she'll need to get used to that!

I had 20m gap, he didn't really understand and certainly didn't understand the concept of time, so less of an issue in preparing than for my friends with bigger gaps. By your point I did talk to him about baby in my tummy etc. Also we read this book:

new baby book

But they do live very much in the present at that age and take things in their stride. It's a nice age gap, good luck

It's so nerve wracking isn't it? I have a 23 mo and am due in 4 weeks.

Dd seems quite uninterested so i'm not forcing the issue, just talking about her baby brother to be, remaining calm and positive. We have A House Inside My Mummy to read.

Plan is to just be really sensitive to Dd's feelings when ds is born.

Hope this thread brings some useful.advice. Good luck!

I had 24 months between mine. What seemed to work for us was talking about the baby in Mummy's tummy and the baby coming to live at our house. I was planning a home birth too so talked a lot (demo'd on car journeys) about 'the noises Mummy might make to tell us the baby was ready to come', and mentioned pushing it out through my bottom.
I was keen that DS1 didn't worry about me, or get a shock about a baby turning up, or expect it to go away again like friends' babies did.
Dependent on your plans there's probably more in there than you might want to talk about with your LO but the one I definitely would go with is the 'coming to live at our house'. The baby then isn't any more or any less important than the toddler and is a permanent addition.

Thanks all. Have ordered a couple of books, and for the first time today DD seemed to notice my expanded tummy! She gave it a nice rub and a kiss, so will start telling her there's a baby in there and see how we get on!

Great tip is don't say 'mummys new baby' or 'my baby' include her by saying 'our new baby' your little brother/sister it's a little thing but i think it's important.

I thought of something else today that I had forgotten about (a year is a long time!) - try and teach your DD what 'gentle' means before the baby comes - practice stroking a dolly gently or a pet, show her what 'gentle' feels like by stroking her arm etc.

Because big enthusiastic toddlers and little newborns = squished newborns, much nicer to be able to say 'gentle' than keep pulling her off.

i second Youaresoright idea we caught DN straddled a 10 week old DS pulling him up by the arms! She was teaching him to sit up couldn't figure out what the big deal was.

Ooh watching with interest as DS is nearly 18 months and we're expecting a baby in 3 months too! We've bought him a baby doll which he likes to undress (and dress and undress again) and wash and cuddle and we've discussed emotions (sad face, happy face etc and he's started to use sad and happy in context ie; "baby sad" when he hears a baby cry)

its hard to know what else to do because as much as I know he knows what a baby is (and we are trying to teach him gentle) I don't think he'll truly understand we're getting one until it arrives. I'm not looking forward to the moment he discovers milk is for baby too!

Best of luck, I'll keep watching for advice too!