Not sure if she really knows what's going on

So my daughter is 2 years and 2 months old and I've been talking to her a lot about her baby brother, she's been to all the ultrasounds, she talks about him all the time etc.

If I ask her where her brother is, she points to my belly, and she's always hugging and kissing my belly and saying, "Hi baby brother!"

She also loves going through his clothes with me, and when I ask her who's clothes they are, she says, "Baby brother clothes!"

But I don't know... it's hard to tell if she really gets it lol.

For those of you who had kids close in age, was your older child like this? How did they react when the baby was born?

Watching... DS is almost 21 months and I have no idea if he even remotely understands when I talk to him about the new baby because he doesn't talk at all yet. I've been wondering myself how he's going to react next month when his brother gets here. He won't even look at my belly. Let alone touch it. If I try to show him my belly he just gets an annoyed expression and pulls my shirt down lol.

My oldest was 21 months when his little brother came. I don't think he had a clue what we were talking about during the actual pregnancy but it was nice for us to have him feel involved. He was really good when the baby was born, he was very protective and assumed the big brother role immediately. It's amazing how quickly they adapt. Like I still remember because it was so cute, anytime we'd be leaving to go somewhere, he'd stand beside the infant carrier and hold on and say "don't forget baby."

Does she come in contact with any babies? Like little newborns? Maybe if you have a friend or family member who has recently had a baby you could ask if it would be alright to introduce her to the baby and say that he little brother will be tiny like this and you'll need to be very gentle and quiet. Maybe she gets that there's a brother in there and that he has things outside but the concept that there's an actual baby may escape her?

Quoting Ryloonjimama:" My oldest was 21 months when his little brother came. I don't think he had a clue what we were talking ... [snip!] ... so cute, anytime we'd be leaving to go somewhere, he'd stand beside the infant carrier and hold on and say "don't forget baby.""

Awww that's adorable! LOL.

My daughter loves baby, but sometimes she gets a little too excited and tries to pick them up, or wants to hold their bottle, and if the baby turns away she tries to keep the bottle in their mouth lol and people are like, "Wow you are going to have your hands full." I'm like ummm, thanks for making me feel better because I'm not stressed already about it or anything...  

Quoting Bettinas:" Does she come in contact with any babies? Like little newborns? Maybe if you have a friend or family ... [snip!] ... gets that there's a brother in there and that he has things outside but the concept that there's an actual baby may escape her?"

She's used to babies, I worked at a preschool up until a few weeks ago, and we had lots of infants, she still talks about them daily lol.

My oldest got it when I was pregnant with my son(they are about 20 1/2 months apart). She would kiss my belly and all kinds of stuff. When I was pregnant with my third, my older two were older(almost 6 and 4 when the baby was born). My daughter was excited, and my son understood, but he just wasn't interested, for lack of a better term. As long as he got to play with his toys, he was happy. Now that my youngest is 5, and I am expecting #4, she understands, even though I'm only 16 weeks along right now. Even though we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet, she always tells me "You have a baby sister in your belly," or "The baby sister is going to pop out of your belly soon."

Quoting ♥Daenerys:" Awww that's adorable! LOL. My daughter loves baby, but sometimes she gets a little too excited and ... [snip!] ... your hands full." I'm like ummm, thanks for making me feel better because I'm not stressed already about it or anything...  "

My mom keeps telling me constantly I'm going to regret every wanting more than one kid   Thanks, mom. She had 4 and raised 3 of us and acts like it was the most terrible thing ever, I guess.

DS loves baby dolls, but he likes to try to poke their eyes in... I'm scared he's going to try to poke DS2's eyes. He does that to our dog, too. I don't know why. He was feeding a baby doll with a bottle the other day though and I melted all over haha. Then he threw the doll on the floor and ran off. Oy. He gave it a kiss somewhere in there, though! >.< He's never met another child, let alone a baby so I'm really nervous too.

<blockquote><b>Quoting ♥Daenerys:</b>" She's used to babies, I worked at a preschool up until a few weeks ago, and we had lots of infants, she still talks about them daily lol."</blockquote>


I'd say she probably does understand then. My son was never around babies, until his brother was actually born.

My oldest was 3 and a half when we had our youngest. He really didn't have much reaction with what was going on. He kind of just went with it. But when youngest was born he'd try to help, like getting diapers/wipes and other things all the time. And if he heard him wake up he'd run to me and say "Sage is awake mommy!"

<blockquote><b>Quoting ♥Daenerys:</b>" Awww that's adorable! LOL. My daughter loves baby, but sometimes she gets a little too excited and ... [snip!] ... your hands full." I'm like ummm, thanks for making me feel better because I'm not stressed already about it or anything...  "</blockquote>


That's cute. She sounds like she's going to be a great little helper. Just make her feel involved and she'll love it. Even if it's just things like "would you pass mummy a diaper for baby?" Also, what the doctor suggested to us was getting our son a baby doll, to imitate the things that were a little more delicate, like the feeding situation. You feed your baby and she feeds her baby. It really helped us.

Quoting Reise's Mommy:" My mom keeps telling me constantly I'm going to regret every wanting more than one kid   Thanks, ... [snip!] ... gave it a kiss somewhere in there, though! >.< He's never met another child, let alone a baby so I'm really nervous too."

I'm tired of people making comments about how hard it will be. Obviously I know how hard having a baby is, I've had one, and what's the point in making me feel more stressed about it? Not like I can go back and change my mind. Just irritates me sometimes.

And my daughter is the same way with her dolls, so lovey dovey, but then throws them or drops them, I'm like oh dear   lol. Luckily though, she's never been mean to a real baby, so maybe it's just a doll thing? haha.

Quoting Ryloonjimama:" <blockquote><b>Quoting ♥Daenerys:</b>" Awww that's adorable! LOL. My daughter ... [snip!] ... that were a little more delicate, like the feeding situation. You feed your baby and she feeds her baby. It really helped us."

Well I've already started having her help me with lots of things, obviously just stuff around the house, or whatever, but she loves to help. So hopefully she'll enjoy helping with him, I know I'll need it haha. And she's got like 15 dolls, two of which are very realistic and are supposed to be the size of a newborns, and she actually favors those two over her others. She 'changes' their diaper, and their clothes, etc. So I've been working on her.  

Quoting ♥Daenerys:" I'm tired of people making comments about how hard it will be. Obviously I know how hard having a baby ... [snip!] ... I'm like oh dear   lol. Luckily though, she's never been mean to a real baby, so maybe it's just a doll thing? haha."

Exactly. I also work full time and go to school full time and my mom just keeps on and keeps on saying smurf like "oh dear god, you are going to die." and "I can't wait until you see how difficult 2 kids is. It's so much worse than 1." Shut up!! If I managed to work full time, go to school full time and take care of one I can do anything, including all that plus one more. So shut. up! Ugh. I have no issue now doing all that and keeping the house perfectly clean even at 36 weeks pregnant. All I'll have to do is cut back on the house work and make DH do it. PLUS I'll have 6 weeks off work anyway! I already only get 3 hours of sleep a night. This isn't gonna kill me  

My kids are 27 months apart. My oldest reacted to her brother with curiosity, a little jealousy, and interest. She would try and do random things like toss her toys in his bassinet when he was sleeping, or run up and snatch a toy from him when he was learning.how to sit up. Maiy typical sibling stuff like tease him at times. Now they are 3 and 5 and only 8 pounds apart lol so I tell her to be nice because hes catching up to her haha. They fight like cats and dogs but they entertain eachother which is nice. But they argue and make every little thing a competition so it gets annoying at times lol