mummys eaten a baby??

[dylsmimi]

I have my dating scan next wk and will most likely be 14wks so all being well we will then be letting everyone know our news (and that I've not just been eating too many Percy pigs!)
I have a 2yo ds and wondering if anyone has any ideas, advice on how to tell him so he understands.
Any books that have been useful etc?
Don't want to confuse him but know people will ask him about a new baby, being a big brother etc
Thanks!

My 3yo (and I) loves the book 'There's a House in Mummy's Tummy'...should be fine for a 2yo too. You can order it on Amazon.

My 2.5 year old seems to have accepted it fine. We know other people who have just had babies so we talked about how they had a baby in their tummy, and it had to grow big and strong before it was ready to come out, and that mummy has a really small baby in her tummy, and my baby has to get bigger too. We don't mention it too much just now (i am nearly 18 weeks) as pregnancy really is a long time, even for us! I find people don't really talk to DS about it at his age, perhaps they will more when I get further on. Congratulations by the way!

i have a 3 year old and he hasn't really questioned how my babies got in my tummy, but did wonder why babies grow in mummys tummy, i told him that mummy grows babies and they are joined to me by their belly button, i also made A big thing about looking at his tummy button and mine, it just reinforced that he to came from mummy :)

Thanks for your replies. I've a feeling I'm overthinking it and he will prob say ok & demand to watch peppa pig!
We have lots of friends with babies due before me so that will be a good comparison - thanks for the idea ellangirl
Will try that book too as he's a bit of a bookworm.
Then it will be the inlaws turn to hear the news! Eek!

yeah i think that 2-4 is probably just young enough for them to not really care about the details. my son is 3 and he just knows that his little sister is in mummys tummy so he has to be careful and that when shes big enough she can come out.

the other day he was puffing out his belly and i said "wow look at that big tummy!" he goes "no mum i have a little tummy. you've got a big tummy." when i asked him why he said "because theres a baby in there." this was followed by "daddy has a big tummy too because he has lots of food in there!" gotta love toddlers!

Gosh, I've been met by a tonne of questions by my nearly 3 year old dd as to why the baby is in my tummy, how did it get there and how will it get out. No escaping answering these questions for me! She refuses to believe that the baby will come out from my fanjo but is very happy that it'll squeeze through my belly button

I'm just being honest and answering everything she asks as simply as possible (without trying to terrify her)!

Depending on what level your DS is functioning at, I wouldn't bother too much until you are getting quite big - it's an awful long time for a little one. My DD doesn't really know what is happening but does pat my tummy now that the unborn is taking up all my lap room, so we got her a book with lift up flaps that has all sorts of weird things in the Mummy's tummy before finally explaining it's a baby and she does rub/kiss my tummy and say ''bibi'' now but I don't thinks she really understands.

Im very careful that we refer to the pregnancy as 'our baby' and don't let grandparents people say 'Mummy's baby' as I think she is going to be the jealous type....

The 'our baby' tip is really good. I was cuddling a newborn the other day at playgroup & ds stood up from across the room looking very cross and refused to come over! Understandable though
Id prefer not to tell him till i am bigger and there is not as long to wait but knowing how excited the inlaws will be I'd rather he hears from us not them I'd be upset if they told him. Sure it will be forgotten to a certain extent till I'm much bigger!

We didnt make a big deal of it with our 2 year old in the early stages. I kind of figured that for a 2 year old 6 months wait is forever. We did tell her but she didnt really take it in

DD came to the scan as it was early morning. On inspection of the picture she declared it was a kangaroo. DH tried to explain it was a baby to which she replied 'its a baby froggy'.

I found it was enough preparation for her once she could see the bump and feel baby kicking. By this point she was 2.7 ish so a bit more grown up anyway.

We have a book called "The Bump" which I think is better than "There's a house inside my Mummy" (got both!) because it tells a small child the story of when your mummy was pg with you. It gives a good idea of what pg women might do, but I love the idea that it's not all about the new baby and makes DC1 feel special.

Giving the baby a nickname helped me to talk about it (ours is Bumpy) and I joke with DS about it of explain that Bumpy is doing lots of kicking right now or I feel tired because Bumpy is getting so big now.

DH took DS out to get a cuddly toy for Bumpy.

"Zaza's baby brother"by Lucy Cousins is a good book, too: it tells the story of what a toddlers life is like in the first little bit after a baby arrives (Mum & Dad v busy & tired, baby quite boring really etc).

I got a pamphlet with my Bounty pack from my MW (at the booking in appt) that talked through how to tell your toddler.

We told my DD a little bit earlier than I thought was ideal as I was being quite sick, & having been in hospital twice since she was 9mo, I didn't want her to worry. Also, she would have heard the conversations about it going on around her, & didn't want to be confused - afterall, 2yos often know/understand more than they can actually say.

We just said 'there's a baby in Mummy's tummy & that's why mummy is being a bit sick'. If she thinks about it, DD might say something to my tummy or points to hers & says 'baby in there' but otherwise seems to have accepted it without issue!!

Might get a book to help later on though, as we're also moving house soon & don't want her to be overwhelmed.

We wanted our lo to be the first to know so we told her first. She's now almost three and baby due in 8weeks. She has asked lots of questions including how it got there and how it will come out- we just told her the truth and she accepted it. She now knows her little sister is in there and is looking forward to meeting her and talking about cuddling her, feeding her and teaching her to catch!