Favorite "Sibling-to-be" Books?

My oldest daughter daughter was given "I'm a big sister" by her grandma and that book has been read over and over and over. She was 3 when my 2nd daughter was born. It was taken out again when I was pregnant with my son. It's a wonderful book.

We didn't use any books, but we did use our older son's glow-worm to help him understand what a baby will require... daddy taught him how to swaddle, feed, and rock the glow-worm. When our second one was born, older one was 2 1/2 years old. Older one came to the hospital, and he got a gift from younger one right away... a book, which he loves and reads all the time!

My son was almost 3 when we had our second, and we liked the book "I'm a big brother." They have the "sister" variety too! It talks about the special things a big boy can do, and what a baby can and can't do. It ends by saying that he's "special in a new way too now" cause now he's a big brother.

I'll add to the fans of "I'm a Big Sister (or Brother)" book. We are in about the same situation as you are - our daughter will be 28 months when our next daughter is born in November, so I, too, was looking for a book. The salesperson at Borders recommended this one and after looking through it, I really found it to be appropriate. It's not a board book, so that was the only thing I wasn't sure about, but so far our daughter hasn't ripped the pages up. :) In the story, the baby comes home and the big sister helps out, and at the end, she says she's special and that her mom and dad love her, and it gives tips to parents on how to help make the transition. Hopefully it will have helped when our next one arrives!

Hi A.,
We bought a number of books to get our first used to the idea of having a baby brother. He liked the "I'm a big brother" book, and there was a Little Critter book about bringing home a baby...he was into the Little Critter at that time (I believe there's a Berenstein Bears book too). We also got a book called 'My New Baby' - it has no words, you just make up you own. It was good because it showed a mom nursing a few times, so I explained that I would be feeding the baby like that. The last one we got was called 'On Mother's Lap' and it was a cute book too and the gist is that there's always room on mother's lap.

Good luck and congrats!
Don't forget about presents for the older sister from the baby once she arrives :) That seemed to help...I think our oldest got some presents from all of the grandparents too, so he felt very included.
R.

Hi A.,
I believe they're arranged at the library in their own little section. If you're into checking out books, you could go that route and give her a variety and select from there what you might like to have on a shelf permanently. We have "Sisters are For Making Sandcastles" and "I'm a Big Sister"... although we checked out many more similar titles. I hope this helps. There are also books that do anything from "touch on" the topic of pregnancy to go into greater detail about the emotions the family may be experiencing. Take care,
K.

Hi there! Well these aren't books, but my daughter loved the movie Three Bears and a Baby. It's Sesame Street and it is really cute and showed that things will change when the new baby comes, but it will be fun. Also, I took my daughter to a sibling class at St. John's Hospital. It was one day, just in the morning. There were puppets and they sang songs and talked about what to expect when the baby came. Then the kids got to take a tour of the maternity ward to see the babies (from outside a window of course) and finally they practiced holding a pretend baby. She got a pciture of her holding the pretend baby and it was placed on a certificate that said she was ready to be a big sister. She also recieved a goody bag (that was a draw-string bag that could be used as a back pack) filled with a book about the puppets and a cd with all the songs they learned. All of that was only $10. Don't know if you will deliver at St. John's but you can stil take the class regardless.

Our first two were 21 months apart and now we are expecting # 3 which will be 26 months from the second child. We really like "Now we have a baby" by Lois Rock. Cute book that sums it up at the end "Love makes a baby a part of our family for a family is love. Welcome baby".

Also, Karen Katz put out a "Best ever big sister" book and probably has others as ours correlated for a sister to sister. Easy flaps with a story that encourages the older child to embrace being "Big" and not a baby.