Have you read any good books on siblings/having a second child?

[alittleteapot]

I'm an only child pregnant with my second on the way and would like to dip into a couple of books on siblings. I'm not someone who lives by parenting books but I feel on this there might be some stuff out there that will be useful to me given I have no experience of my own to draw on. I'm a bit nervous about how number 1 is going to react!

TIA

I rather like this one:

Siblings without Rivalry

There is a book called "Three shoes, one sock and no hairbrush: everything you need to know about having your second child". I'd recommend you DO NOT READ this while pregnant. My husband confiscated my copy as I cried everytime I tried to read it. Judging by the Amazon reviews I'm not alone in finding it unecessarily negative.

three shoes, opne sock and no hairbrush by Rebecca Abrams is honest and funny - but I read this after I had my second, I may have been pacnicking a bit if I had read it before

Just seen LiberalIdleOlogy's post

thanks very much. I'd heard about Sibling without Rivalry but thought it looked like it might be for when you already have two school aged children rather than at my stage. But will get it and will definitely avoid the other! I'm already a bit freaked out about life being turned upside down!

I read Three Shoes when my second was a few months old. It was miserable. Don't read it please.

The usefulness of Siblings without Rivalry definitely kicks in well before school age. As another 'only child' I found it really useful as I had no experience of sibling dynamics at work - for better or worse!

I think the talk boards here are as good a resource as you're likely to find though. And free!

Thanks very much. now's the bit where you get to tell me how great it'll be with two!!!

I found the first few months very hard but, of course, it is great with two.

What is your age gap?

2 yrs 4 months

My gap was/ is 20 months. I found the first months very hard. DS was still a baby himself. I still feel like I forced him to grow up. DD (second child) was a very clingy baby so I didn't give DS that much attention.

Now they are 4 and 3 and they get on so well. I love hearing them playing together, DS sharing his sounds/ letter knowledge, DD getting him to sort out stuff for her.

Yes, I guess it's a bit like when you have your first baby, even if they've only been awake constantly for a week, if they are two weeks old, that's 50% of their life, which feels hugely significant whereas of course with hindsight it will be a very short period of time. That's what I'll have to keep in mind at first. I think dd's going to be very jealous. She's already started to get annoyed when I hold other people's babies...