Explaining pregnancy to a 3 year old?

[onceipopicantstop]

Hi we're planning to tell our 3.5 year old that I'm pregnant soon. I'm a bit worried about his reaction to having a sibling but more than that I'm concerned about potential questions!! He has seen photos of me pregnant with him, and was asking how the baby got in my tummy but I was a bit vague and he decided in the end it must have been through my mouth . But he's older now so he may ask more detail!! Any advice? ?

Hiya

Congratulations!

No idea on how to tell him I'm afraid - have you a close friend or relative with one or two kids that you can use as an example?

Or just tell him you've eaten another baby that's hilarious!

xx

I have told 3 year old DS that there is a baby in my tummy, and he has asked no questions at all! Just accepted it.

If he asks questions, I would answer factually but just the question he asks. For example, mummy had a little egg inside her, daddy put a seed in there and together they grow into a baby. He might be satisfied with that as an answer so I wouldn't offer information about how daddy puts the seed in unless asked.

Dh and I told dss on the weekend and he asked no questions other than, 'will it hurt when the baby comes out' we both smiled at each other and said, more than likely but not for long hopefully.

I told our nearly 4yr old that in a while he'll be getting a baby brother or sister (he wants a another brother) and that the baby is in Mummy's tummy that needs to grow before it can come out. He hasn't asked any questions about how the baby got there and has just accepted what we've said bout it. He asks when the baby will be coming out from time to time but that' about it.

Me too op! At some point we'll have to think about telling dd 3.4, but baby isn't due until April so I don't know how far in advance to tell her.

When we told DD at 3.5 we were having a baby she just said OK, no questions. to help explain we bought a great book called "mummies tummy house" which is a poem about a baby growing inside his mums tummy. Last line is "there's no one in mums tummy now until she makes another". Now expecting number 3 and she is reading book to her brother

Thanks for all your replies! I have bought a couple of books to help -I hope! So we are going to give him the news on the weekend.

Tea1sugar I'm due in March and had planned to wait until at least my 20 week scan before telling him - mainly because march is such a long way off when you're 3! But people keep talking about my pregnancy in front of him and I'm worried he's going to overhear something so we've decided to tell him earlier.

My ds is 3.5 and he hasn't asked any logistical questions. He was younger when I fell pregnant (38 weeks now) and we told him right away so maybe that's why he has gradually got a grip of the whole thing and the big bump definitely helps! If he did ask I'd just tell him the truth minus graphic details, wouldn't say anything about willies or sex and would probably say I'm going to poo the baby out or something, that would make him laugh, he loves poo talk (typical male already!). I really wouldn't worry though, they don't really think about things the same way we do at this age. Good luck. x

Well we told ds last night and was all fine. Brief excitement over being a big brother, then carried on playing!! And no technical questions...so far!

Like pps, when he asked I just said Daddy put a seed in which found a special mummy bit, and together they grew into a baby.

My 5yo and 2yo have been enjoying this YouTube video which shows fetal development in detail including delivery through a shadow pelvis. They love pictures in pgy books of what the baby looks like at each stage, and now looking at different size dolls to get a handle on how big DC3 is right now.

If he asks how the seed got there, the calm answer is "he used his willy. Willies have two jobs." DS1 was a bit surprised but was satisfied with the answer. We're hoping that by presenting the answer in such a matter-of-fact fashion so early we will avoid later.

My sister told my niece I was pregnant (shes 2 and a few months) and after singing twinkle twinkle to my belly this morning, she said 'theres a baby in there isnt there?' I said, yes there is. She followed up with 'I want it to be a black one'

We arent really sure where that came from, although she had been having a long discussion with my sis today about how she wanted her to get a black car instead of a white one, so it might just be her new thing!

*we are both as white as can be, it will be a shock to everyone if our baby is black :lol:

We told DS who was 2.5 that. When he askes how I just said it was a bit like making a cake. Mummy and Daddy mixed uo the ingredients and then Mummy cooks them in her tummy.
He seemed happy with that!
I'm not aure it would cut the mustard now they are 17 and 14!

I wouldn't make a big thing about it. Wait til s/he asks about the tummy or what's going on and tell them there's a baby in there, isn't that exciting. Then talk about dinosaurs.

At 3.5 they don't miss much but need time to assimilate information. The questions will come in their own time