How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

My DS is just about 2.5 yo and I am 12 weeks pregnant with my second DC. Any tips or good ways to break the news to him that he will be a big brother? I would like to wait longer but he picks up on a lot of things and will be coming with me to some appointments coming up and don't want him to be confused. Also we plan on telling the family next week at Thanksgiving. I just want to do the right thing and have no idea how he will react...if at all. Any personal tips/experiences would be appreciated!

Re: How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

My son was 25 months old when dd was born. I got him a book about being a new big brother. I also pointed out examples of our friends who had siblings to explain the concept to him. I had him help me pick out a toy from him to the new baby and got him a big toy from the baby to him. He received that the day we came home from the hospital. While at the hospital I had the nurses bring dd to ds who I had in the hospital bed with me so that we could all welcome her to the family. He saw her behind the glass with the rest if the family first. I did not want to be holding dd when he came in the room because I did not want him to feel replaced. The nurses were checking dds vitals.

Re: How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

My dd was 2.5 when my son was born, so she was a little younger while I was pregnant. We told her that she was going to be a big sister and that there was a baby in mommy's belly. My friend also bought her a book about it. I don't think they truly get it until the baby is here. She was so curious about her little brother and did become more demanding of my time after we came home from the hospital. What worked for us was making a big deal about how her little brother loved her and that she was his favorite. She felt really important.

Re: How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

DS was 3 when we told him he was going to be a big brother. I waited until I was 17 weeks right after my early Level II showed everything looked good. We sat him down and told him that I had a baby in my belly, that the baby was coming in July and that he was going to be a big brother. He was so excited he told everyone at daycare the next day. We also bought some books about being a big brother that I read to him over the next several months.

Re: How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

I waited until 20 weeks after the Anatomy Scan. This way we knew the pregnancy was going well, we could say "You are going to have a baby BROTHER!" And the period of waiting until he arrive was much less then if we told my DD right away. She was just about 3 when we told her...

Re: How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

My DD wasn't even one when I got pregnant again, so I told her the day I took the test...needless to say, she didn't know what the hell I was talking about!

When I got pregnant with #3, my girls were 4 and almost 3. The sono tech printed out copies of the 12 week ultrasound with the captions "Hi K..!" and "Hi A...!" So maybe a week or two later, we sat them down and showed them the photos. My older one knew exactly what was happening, but the little one looked confused and really didn't care one way or the other. In the end, everything was awesome and we had no problems with jealousy or regression or anything at all.

Re: How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

I'm 8 weeks with DS2. I told 3 year old DS the other day. I'm going to say that was not the most well thought out decision I have made. He will randomly shout out "I be a big brother!" or "There's a baby in the belly". Luckily, it's been at totally random times while he is in the midst of other activities so people have just looked at him weird and moved on.

Re: How/When to tell Toddler about new baby coming

So we told him yesterday that he was going to be a big brother( as he had to come to my 12 week appointment today with me). We got a quick eyebrow raise and no further reaction He hasn't mentioned it since. Thanks for the advice. I guess dealing with the actual arrival will be a much bigger bal game