Questions & Answers

Thanks for all your suggestions!!
I am expecting a transition period but I know she does well when you make her "helper" - she loves that so I will definitely try doing that!
Appreciate all your inputs!

Hey lady, as you know our daughters are about the same age and we both have are little boys now....well, you'll have yours in your arms soon enough. I'm gonna let you know that when we had our daughter come visit us in the hospital the day her brother was born we made the mistake of having everyone there at once....she was okay at first but then the following day she wanted nothing to do with me, no kisses or hugs, which of course made me cry, she wouldn't even let me touch her. My husband suggested we have family time, so we had everyone leave so it was just us four; my husband, myself, Tori and little Gavin. Make sure you have family time while your at the hospital.
All these mommies are suggesting great ideas....wish I would of asked this question, don't know why I didn't. Lol.
Now a week after we brought the baby home she's warming up to him, she'll tickle his feet, give kisses, she'll let me know when the baby is crying, she still won't hold him but she's mommy's little helper.

The 1st 6 wks were by far the worst in terms of her behavior and "acting out." However, it got easier week by week. The baby just turned 3 mos, and for the most part, things are back to normal - with the exception that age 3 is apparently going to be a doozy! The terrible 2s are nothing compared to the tyrannical 3s! lol!

Things that appeared to help: setting out time with mommy, trying to stay on as much of a routine that she as familiar with as possible, giving her jobs: get mommy a diaper/wipes, help mommy put lotion on the baby after her bath, etc. Anything that makes her feel important, telling her what a great big sister she is being. In the end, time is what helps the most.

My 1st born was 2 yrs 9 mos when her sister arrived in March. There was def a transition period even though we started preparing her for the baby from the moment we found our I was expecting. Once the baby arrived, she ADORED her from day 1, however, she did NOT adore having to share her mommy with her sister! The most obvious trouble we had was her doing attention seeking behavior when I was focused on the baby, esp meal time. When the baby needed something, she would suddenly be starving herself, or need to go to the potty, etc, etc. She also regressed temporarily on things she had been doing for a long time: suddenly she couldn't dress herself, or go to the potty by herself, etc. I was worried she was going to start having accidents, but fortunately she didn't regress on being potty trained.

Most importantly remember there is bound to be a period of adjustment for you all, everyone is going to be a little sleep deprived and grumpy and all you can do is keep calm with your daughter as best you can even if she seems hell bent on mischief, you'll probably find it will be your temperament that moulds her reaction.

My sister let her 2 and a half year old girl help with every aspect of preparation for her little sister so that she felt like mummies little helper. When the baby came she let her help out in the day today bits in caring for her new little sister but made lots of time for just the two of them. She asked people to greet her eldest first before fawning over the baby and handed little one over to others/daddy a lot in the first days to cuddle play read. the motto that baby won't mind whos holding it where as the firstborn is aware they haven't been cuddled by mum or dad yet today. I'm planning on breastfeeding so we've discussed that my son could sit with me and I'll read to him as I feed as this is the only time that if he wanted attention I couldn't just hand over the little one. Baby can also bring a gift into the world with them for their older sibling, my parents did this when my sister came along. Hope this helps