Preparing 14 month old for new baby

[Whereland]

Does anyone have any tips on how to prepare or help a 14 month old cope with a new baby? I'm due any day now and anything I've read about preparing for a sibling seems to be aimed at older children.
He's too young to comprehend the idea or for me to explain anything.. so any other tips welcome!

My eldest was 16 months when my second arrived.

We didn't prepare him. He didn't understand. I kept talking to him about the baby in my tummy and pointing.

We started sending him to nursery 2 mornings a week a month before baby arrived so that it wasn't such a big change he to go after baby had arrived.

What's good about being so young is they simply don't understand, so there is not jealousy! Before long your eldest won't remember a time it was just them, so it should be a fairly simple transition for them.

Good luck! (I found the newborn days so much easier second time round. It truly was a breeze.... The nights were a different story :)

That's great to hear, thank you!
I had been thinking he's too young to understand therefore won't be jealous.. so fingers crossed that's what happens! He already goes to childcare a couple of mornings a week so will keep that up too.
And I'm telling myself I'm so used to broken sleep that I won't even notice the several newborn nightwakings 😁

If you’ve bought a new pushchair or pram to accommodate them both, don’t wait until the new baby arrives to test it out with your 14mo. Get them used to it now.
Do you do BLW? It’s so handy if you’ve got two under 2!

I think the best you can do at that age is take him round to visit someone who has a new baby. Preferably also a child about his age, though you may well be one of the first to have a second child so that could be tricky.

I'm in the same position OP, they have 0 idea so maybe good in a way? But I've got them a doll that I call baby and try to show how to kiss and cuddle etc, take them to see other babies. I mean she is not now 'trained', but its a start.
I think a good idea is to plan what is going to happen when baby is here for the first few weeks, like asking someone over once a week, separate to nursery to take eldest out and to make a fuss of them, then in time swap it round so someone takes new baby out and you get one on one time with eldest? X

Buy a doll and some accessories. It's just play time then, but while you feed the baby he can too, so he's not left out. Ditto changing nappies and a baby pushchair and bath?

I've got 13 months between my two there was some jealousy, big one would kiss the little one, then a glint would come into her eye and the kisses turned to bites... it's hard work but has turned out to be a joy as they've always been such good friends. Now in their twenties.

Regarding preparation, we would talk about the baby in mummy's tummy, there isn't a great deal you can do as they're not up to asking questions yet lol. Make sure you're on the sofa a lot so there's room for big baby to climb up and join you with little baby and not feel left out. Good luck with it all.

My DD1 was 3 years old when DD2 was born, so maybe I’m not much help! But I would say give your child lots and lots of attention now and after! x

There are 11 months between mine so no chance of the big sister being able to be told about it before it happened. However, she understood instinctively somehow that he was a baby and belonged to us and was delighted with him from the moment she saw him. She kisses him and cuddles him and his name was one of her first words. She’s never jealous exactly but she feels vulnerable when he’s getting 100% attention and there’s no other adult to give her attention. That’s really hard but I would try to think of it in terms of her being little and scared rather than being jealous.

At 14m they won’t understand. Just try and keep things as normal as possible after baby arrives.

16 months between mine. I moved DD out of her cot and into a “ big girl’s bed” at 15 months, so she was used to it for a month before the baby arrived, and didn’t feel “evicted” to make room.
There was a bit of acting out - she put her Billy Button doll on the baby’s bouncer seat, then looked truculently at me, expecting to be told to remove him. I deliberately didn’t react the way she was expecting, and asked if Billy liked his chair and whether he’d let baby have a turn on it later!
I always sat her beside me while feeding the baby so she could have a story or nursery rhymes, and I praised her for the things she could do herself, that baby was too young to manage.
She very soon became proud of being the big sister, and would help me by fetching clean nappies etc.
Having them so close in age was great, as they liked the same age appropriate activities and could play the same board games together.
It’s a bit gruelling while they’re both in nappies as they never synchronise bowel movements - some days you feel you’re never off your knees by the changing mat! - but beyond that it’s fine and they play well together.