I think my 3yr old knows

[Bellabutterfly2016]

So I'm about 16 weeks pregnant and my dd is being very very protective of me! We haven't told her about the baby yet.

Yesterday we met friends and she announced "that's my Mummy" to everyone (she never does that) and she's cuddling, kissing and stroking my arms all the time and being much more affectionate than normal.

Dp was joking saying she's marking her territory - has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Not quite the same but the day after I found out I was pregnant my 4 year old woke up and told me how he'd 'had a dream about the baby in your tummy'

We hadn't told him and we hadn't spoken about it until after he was in bed

I've still no idea how he knew and it creeped me out a bit. Seems they know more than we think they do.

When I was pregnant with dd 2 I bought dd 1 two little penguin toys as a present. She said to me "one for me, one for the baby in your tummy". I had literally only had a positive pregnancy test the day before and hadn't even told dh yet. It did freak me out a little!

Maybe she knows then!!!!

Wasn't planning on telling her for a while yet! Otherwise I'm sure it'd be "where's the baby"! Every day for the next 5 months!!!!!!!

Hi just got my BFP on Tues. My 5yo does not know about this. But since Tues he is glued to my hip! Sits tight beside me on sofa and so clingy! Dh even joked you'd think he senses it!!

I think it’s a hormone thing, they can sense it I’ Sure. My 3 yo keeps nuzzling my chest and cuddling me and saying “I love you Mummy” When before she really wasn’t all that affectionate.

Have you been talking about the baby to your partner in front of her? it's possible she has overheard you, we ended up telling DD when I was about 10 weeks because we were talking about it more and even when we think she isn't listening, she picks up on everything (also 3yrs).

I wonder if you smell different

We had to tell my 4 year old and just turned 3 year old at 12 weeks as they’d guessed. 3 year old said ‘mummy your tummy looks like it’s got a baby in it!’.

This reassures me that I'm not crazy..! Before I knew I was pregnant (a couple of days before I got a positive test), my 2.5 yr old drew a picture (obviously unrecognisable!) So I asked what it was.

"That's the baby in your tummy"...

I kept the picture just in case she was right, and sure enough... so we have a first ever picture of our baby from before we even knew they existed.

2.5yr old was still breastfeeding at the time, so do wonder if that somehow changed. But how a change in taste could lead to that deduction from her I've no idea!

Smell? But also you are probably noticing it more, like confirmation bias.

I was 14 weeks and keeping it secret. My 2.5yo niece came up to me touched my tummy and said “baby in there”
They deffiantly know, shes now obsessed asking is baby coming.

My Dd1 was chatting away to me when I was about 10weeks pregnant, before we’d told her. “I would like a baby sister, please. And a new Mummy.”

My daughter told my mother I was expecting and that it was a boy. We had told no one and didn't know the sex until he was born. They are 22 and 28 now.

I have a totally unfounded theory that they can start smelling your milk being produce again and just subconsciously connect it.

Oh they know. The day I took my test, before I told DP, my 3 yr old said 'Mummy who is in your tummy?' - totally freaked me out. This continued for weeks, we waited until 12 weeks to confirm and she barely reacted, because of course she'd known for months! She also refused to acknowledge it might be a boy, it's a girl.

Yup! My DS who's 5 is another one who pointed to my tummy and said, "there's a baby in there" a couple of days after my positive test. I had a miscarriage in January which he took in his stride but had mentioned that there was a baby in my tummy who died a couple of weeks earlier so he definitely understood this was not the same baby! Freaked me right out.

I didn't have that with DD1, but she was adamant that DD2 was girl when everyone else (including me) were all convinced it was a boy because everything about the pregnancy was totally different. She was right.

My DD knew with one of my pregnancies, aged about 3, she was chattering away and just said “there is a baby in your tummy’. I never discussed it with before or since

When I was pregnant with DD2 but before I'd found out, DD1 picked up a "big sister" top in the supermarket and put it in the trolley (she wouldn't have been able to read it). We had a good old laugh about that, as we weren't trying, I had maybe 2 periods a year due to PCOS and I'd been told by the gynaecologist I wasn't ovulating at all. A few days later I tested because I had a funny turn like I did when I was pregnant with DD1 and had felt sick over a cup of tea, just to reassure myself I was being daft, as I obviously couldn't be pregnant...

Ds went through a stage of doing things "for the baby in your tummy" as far as wanting to buy baby clothes for the baby and things like that when he was 3yo.

I was definitely not pregnant, nor did any of his friends have baby siblings/pregnant mums. I never worked out where it came from.

Mind you dd1 told her friends that mummy had a baby growing in her tummy, and daddy had one growing in his legs. That was an odd one.

I think this is one of the amazing things about the internet, especially the increase in people talking to each other on sites like Mumsnet.

Stuff we all used to think was weird and that freaked us out, actually turns out to be surprisingly common.

Think of all the weird cat behaviours that everybody though was unique to their crazy little fur ball but YouTube proved very common indeed.

This is great thread to demonstrate it.

Also very sweet stories.
Am loving “I would like a baby sister, please. And a new Mummy.”

OH MY GOD! I'm so glad I found this thread! My 3yr old did exactly this recently, she just sat in the back of the car and declared that "My sunshine baby is in your tummy Mummy"... we'd not long had our BFP, and certainly hadn't discussed in front of her. Spooked me a bit, but was lovely. I'm delighted to read this quite is a common thing, and I shouldn't be grilling her for this weeks lottery numbers.

My 6-year-old nephew asked me when I was going to have the baby - and I had no idea I was pg - my period wasn't even due.

This happened to a friend of mine. Her son just pointed at her tummy and said "Can we call the baby Fred*?" She didn't even know she was pregnant at that point.

*not Fred, but the name by which her DS2 is now known.

I think this is a bit of confirmation bias - so I'll throw in a data point that shows the opposite: my 3 year old daughter told her nursery teacher that I was pregnant, when I wasn't (although we were trying). It was because she wanted me to be pregnant so she could have a baby brother or sister.