Big Sister Gift- When Welcoming a New Baby
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To be honest, I was really nervous about the big transition for our daughter to add a little baby to the mix. She turned three shortly after he was born, so she was used to being the only child for a while. And with me being a stay-at-home-mom, she got mommy all day everyday. She got my undivided attention and we had a nice flow of things we would do while my husband traveled often for work. Daily popcorn dates, playing and playing and more playing, running errands, doing crafts & activities, playdates with other friends, Mommy/Emmie dinner dates, you name it. We spent most waking hours together, just the two of us, so adding someone who would divide my attention was about to be a BIG change.
We had a lot of big transitions within a few months. My husband got a new job and no longer traveled for work, so we went from him being gone often and working crazy hours to now working from home (yay!!!). We were also adding a new baby to our life, and Emmie was starting preschool in the fall. A few of those may seem like small things, but to a toddler it can be a lot of change in her routine.
I wanted to prepare Emmie for the transition of becoming a big sister as best I could. We talked about baby brother every day. I got her this big sister book that prompted a lot of great questions and conversations, and we let her “help” us set up the nursery. She was always very excited when she talked about the baby in mommy’s tummy, but I feared that once he was here she would regress or have resentment towards him for taking some of my attention off of her.
Noah is seven months now as I’m writing this, so we are a bit removed from that transition period. I won’t sugar coat it… it was hard. I felt so much guilt when I couldn’t give Emmie what she needed or wanted in the moment. I felt bad that my time was divided. When I was nursing Noah (which is a freaking full time job those first few months), I so badly wanted to be able to go join in on the fun that Emmie and Kyle were having and felt bad for all the extra screen time she was getting. GUILT. If I was in the middle of comforting a melting-down toddler and had to leave Noah for a few minutes, I felt bad that I couldn’t attend to him at that moment. GUILT. A few times, Emmie even asked when I was taking Noah back to the baby store or to the hospital because she didn’t want him anymore.
I don’t share all of this to scare any of you. In fact, I felt like we did the best that we possibly could to prepare her. Change is just hard for any human, but especially little ones who are so emotional and figuring out their feelings. Just like any change or transition in life, it takes a bit of time to adjust. Now we can’t imagine our family without little Noah in it, and Emmie is absolutely obsessed with her baby brother.
When we were prepping for baby brother’s arrival, one thing that was suggested to us by several people was to have a “Big Sister Gift” that the baby would give her when she met him for the first time. This was a huge hit and something really special that Emmie loved. Most toddlers love getting presents, so we definitely made sure she knew that it was a special gift from her bubby. The excitement and joy Emmie had while opening it was precious. I had a lot of fun picking out some cute “big sister” themed items as I knew she would use them proudly. I even got a matching tee/onesie for Noah and Emmie so she was excited about that! To this day, she still uses or wears the items Noah gifted her, which is precious.
I will link the items below that I got plus some other ideas for you if you find yourself needing a sibling gift! Now tell me, if you’ve been in this situation before, how did you prepare your child/children for a new sibling?
