Toddler Talk Thursday - New Baby

Welcome to another week of Toddler Talk Thursday, hosted by Family and Life in Las Vegas, Life of a Sippy Cup Mom, and Crazy About my Baybah

This weeks topic is: How to Handle Bringing a New Baby home with a toddler in the house?

Well, we've been through this twice now, and I still don't know how I really did it!  Princess V was only 17 months when we had Princess C. Until the doctor appointments became invasive I took Princess V to them with me.  We talked about it a lot, and just tried to involve her with everything through the pregnancy.  Once Princess C came, Princess V was at the age where she really liked to just play alone. So I could easily hold, feed, care for Princess C in the same room as Princess V.  

I was much more worried bringing home Princess R. Princess C was 2yo, and she loved my lap. I was very worried she would get jealous of the new baby, and have a hard time with me holding her.  So once again, we involved her through the process a lot! For her 2nd birthday, she got about 5 baby dolls, and I think that helped tremendously.  She was able to be just like mommy with her babies.  

Princess R has me worried. (No I'm not announcing anything here).  She has been my biggest Momma's girl EVER! She can be playing perfectly happy with some toys, and other kids, but if she even thinks another child is going to get on my lap, bloody murder is screamed, and she's clinging to my leg like it's a life line!  We'll obviously do the same thing with her, where we involve her in every aspect of the pregnancy.  My only hope for her, is that she will have outgrown this stage (even though it's been since birth) before we have another baby.  

Some advice I'd give to anyone getting ready to have a new baby. Bring your other children to the hospital after you've given birth. Don't just leave them at home, and then return with some stranger baby.  We've done this both times now, where we bring our other children to the hospital to meet the new sibling. They get to see that this person is now a part of their family, before intruding into their home space.