When did you tell your nearly three-year-old about a new baby?

[Colliewobble15]

Just recently found out we’re expecting baby number 2. My daughter will be turning 3 the month after baby is born. What point did everyone tell their oldest child if they were a similar age , and how do you approach it? I know she may not understand fully at her age.

I am not sure when my brother was told about me but when I was born my Dad bought a massive box of Lego and took it to the hospital, so when he returned with my brother to introduce us he could say it was a gift from his baby sister.

My Ds was slightly older, he was 3 when I found out I was pregnant. He said one day your tummy is sqiushy why so i took the opportunity to tell him. I was just over 12 weeks and we were just about to tell family. He didnt really understand it though and couldnt understand why the baby wasnt here every week after that.

A couple of weeks beforehand. I was very low key about a new baby and didn’t have any acting out issues etc.

When I was reasonably sure it was happening - i.e. post 12 week scan.
Other family members knew sooner and I didn't want DD to find out from someone other than me.

My son was a little older at 3.5 when I had my 12 week scan and we told him after that

On the 12 week scan day. Baby was born 5 days before eldest turned 3

We had a similar age gap, we waited until after the 20 week scan to make sure everything was as well as it can be. We also didn’t want to do it too early as it’s a long time to wait if they are excited, or too late so there’s not enough time for them to get used to the idea.

When I started to the point that other people would comment on the bump. For me this was my third baby so around 16 weeks.

My son was a year older than that -his sister was born just days before his fourth birthday. I got him an age appropriate book explaining how babies are made and are born. Which he loved. We read it often. Then every time we went on a bus he recited it from beginning to end 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈.
Because his birthday was November I’d bought and wrapped all his presents. Had also bought and wrapped for Xmas - separate bag clearly labelled and in very Christmassy wrapping paper. On his birthday he came to see us in hospital gleefully clutching toys from both bags - ex reckoned he thought they must all be for his birthday!!!

I don't remember ever properly telling him, didn't make a big deal about it - he got a t shirt saying he was going to be a big brother but that was more for the grandparents. Took photos of him with the scan. Other than that just talked about it generally and read him books but there was no big announcement and I genuinely don't know if he understood what was going on until his brother came home.

After 16 week scan, I was having twins so had regular scans and hospital visits from 16 weeks and starting to show. So thought we couldn't wait much longer till it was obvious something was going on. We found out the gender at 16 weeks and so told DD I had 2 sisters in my tummy. Although DD did spend my entire pregnancy and post thinking every pregnant woman she met had 2 babies in their tummies!

She also spent the pregnancy worrying about how they would come out - I was booked for a c section- so told her that the doctor would cut my tummy to get them out when ready. She then asked the doctor on a few occasions has she got a knife ready today for mummy's tummy!!

My DS turned 3 the day before we had our DD (yep one day apart birthdays!) and we decided to tell him early on as I had complications. We explained why I couldn’t lift/hold him from the beginning, and he understood. We also bought a book off Amazon (“I’m a big brother” by Joanna Cole) which we read to him quite a few times at bedtime. He took it all really well and he’s an amazing big brother 🥰

At about four months pregnant

I have exactly the same age gap. We didn’t need to tell DS! He overheard us talking and told his nursery nurse!

We told my eldest around 14 weeks we didn’t make it into a big deal or anything just casually brought it up and he just sort of nodded and then as we talked more about it in his presence he just got used to the idea and there was no drama no big announcement it was just calm and quiet.

Exactly the same age my daughter was, turned 3 the month after second baby was born too!

after the 12 week scan we just started saying “mummy has a baby in her tummy, your going to be a big sister”, showed her the scan photos etc. by the time he was born she fully understood what was happening and was so excited.

from day one she has adored him. He’s nearly two now and they are the best of the friends, she is so caring towards him and he loves her! It’s a really great age gap.

DS was 3 (4 when DD arrived). We just told him he was having a baby brother or sister. We waited until after the 12 weeks scan. He was adamant he wanted a brother, found out at 20 week scan it was going to be a sister, had to break it gently to him 🤣

We waited until after the 20 week scan - so we knew things were all ok, and also to find out the gender so we could prepare our eldest who will be nearly 4. And because I am well aware I lack the tolerance for 30 or so weeks of “when is the baby coming” questions 😂

Around the 12 weeks mark.
DD2 born 3 days after DD1’s 3rd birthday.
She was very excited throughout the pregnancy. She went shopping for a present for the baby with Nanna while I was in hospital.
When she came to visit in the hospital the baby had also got a gift for her ❤️

I had to tell my 3yo early as I had terrible morning sickness. Think we read there's a house inside my mummy and talked about it very practically a lot.

I was lucky when I was 12 weeks DD1 said her friends DM had a baby, it wasn’t fair. So I said ok we will get one.

We told our almost 3 yr old DD she was going to be a big sister after my 12 week scan.We told her the news before we told our parents.
She was so excited.

Glad to hear from someone who has done it this way. I'm 12 weeks pregnant and have my scan on Monday but was thinking I would rather wait until I know everything is definitely ok at the 20 week scan before getting my daughter excited. She already talks about having a brother and sister non-stop because her friends at nursery have them. Did they notice anything earlier do you think? I'm wondering how to explain the bump without lying. I already feel like I'm showing as it's my second :/

I really don’t think she had noticed before we told her. I definitely showed earlier that I did with her but she probably just thought I was putting on weight. Not sure if we were just lucky but she was very happy she was going to be a big sister and was especially glad we had another girl. We didn’t find out the gender before hand. On our way home from the hospital she asked if we can keep her forever. They do very much get on and are lovely sisters to each other which I think the age gap helped with. But again we could have just been lucky.

That's so sweet 😊 Your daughter sounds adorable. I was also going to leave the gender to the end but I'm one of three girls myself so I definitely know how lovely it can be to grow up as a group of girls (most of the time 😅 the teen years can be a bit more tense...)