Preparing Your Toddler For Their New Sibling

Being a couple months away from the delivery of our second child, we’ve been working on prepping our toddler, Greyson, for his new baby brother. People often ask us, “Does he know he’s going to be a big brother?” I never know quite how to answer this. We always respond by saying, “Well, we told him.”

Does he really know what that entails? We have no idea. He’s two years old.

Does he really understand the whole concept that a real life human being is developing in mommy’s tummy? I don’t even understand that. haha! 

Does he know that means that literally all of his old clothes, toys, blankets, nooks will soon belong to his little brother?

Does he know that he’ll have to share all of his toys including his bikes and motors? He definitely doesn’t understand that. EEEK. I’m scared. 

Greyson was the first person that knew I was pregnant. As soon as I took my test, daddy wasn’t home, and I ran into his room and yelled that he was going to be a big brother. He was sleeping, but I woke him up. He had no clue what I was talking about. Or at least he looked at me that way. 

From then on we’ve been constantly telling him that he’s about to be a big brother. Most of the time he thinks we’re saying “butter” and then proceeds to say that he has butter in his tummy too. 

Butter is his favorite snack. 

Now that I’m a lot larger and he can visually see that something is going on, we’ve been asking him questions like, “Do you want to feel your bother in mommy’s tummy?” He always says yes but only has the patience to hold his hand there for maybe two seconds. 

He’s now been trying to feed him his gummy bears through my belly button. haha! 

Although I have no clue how to prepare your child for what’s about to happen, I mean I don’t even know how to prepare myself, I wanted to share a few things that we’ve been doing with Greyson that seem to be working really well. 

Talk to Them 

The easiest way to prepare anyone for anything is to simply talk to them. We’ve been reminding Greyson all the time, especially with the toys, that soon he’ll have to share these with his brother. We also are always asking Greyson if he wants to talk to the baby. We tell him that his brother can hear him but he can’t talk back yet. Greyson loves to say, “Hi, baby,” and wave at my tummy.

That even makes me cry. I can’t even fathom what I’m in for once he gets here. 

Helping Hand

Have them be your little helping hand. We’ve been having Greyson help with everything. Although that means getting the nursery ready has taken 10x longer, but I can’t blame that all on him. ha! But this has been the biggest thing we have done where we have actually seen a shift in his mentality. He has come with us shopping to pick out decor for the nursery, his clothes, diapers, and has even been helping us get the nursery ready.

And we talk him through it all. Ask him if he thinks his new baby brother would like it, you know…

He now points to his brother’s room and asks if he can play in there even though he isn’t here yet. That melts my heart. 

Set Up the Bassinet Early

Since Greyson was born we have been firm about no sleeping in our bed. To each their own, but this momma needs her sleep and her hubby. So having our little guy in our room has never been an option. However, lately Greyson has been on this kick that he wants to sleep in mommy and daddy’s room and he always wants to make sure we leave his door open so he can see into our room. It’s weird. Just one day he had this shift and all of a sudden is scared at night. Not sure what that’s about yet…

So our biggest thing we’ve been nervous about is when the baby arrives, having him in our room in the bassinet and Greyson wanting to be in there too. 

So we set up the bassinet early and had Greyson help us. Again, talking him through what’s about to happen and that the baby will have to sleep in it in our room for a little bit. And now Greyson points out that is the baby’s bed and that he’ll sleep in there. I’m feeling a lot better about that transition now that it’s been in there for a few months already and we have a few more to go for him to really get used to it. 

Share Photos

We have the ultrasound photos hanging on our fridge and we’re always pointing them out to Greyson. Having him say good morning and giving him a kiss goodnight. We’re always sharing all of the photos we can to him and explaining that is what is in mommy’s tummy. Now he talks to his brother without us having to tell him. 

Visit Friends with Babies

Visiting family and friends with babies has also been a game changer. Greyson has never liked when I have held other babies. Until recently when we’ve been around friends with babies, he tells me to hold them. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s getting older and less jealous or if it’s because of all the things we’ve been doing above and is now becoming more adjusted with babies. Regardless, I’ve been trying to get around all the babies I can with Greyson and hold them and have G talk to them. 

Through all of these main five things, it’s really been a game changer while preparing Greyson to be a big brother! Hope you can use a tip or two if you’re expecting your second and wondering what in the world to do to prepare your little, as I had no clue…but these seem to be working really well. Now, let’s just see how he does when he actually gets here…haha! 

Any tips or advice you momma’s did that worked well for before or when the baby actually gets here? Would love to hear!