Present from baby to big sister

Hi, congratulations on your pregnancy.
I have a 20 month gap between my youngest two. We got a baby doll for the baby to give to her big brother. He wasn't particularly interested in the doll though and it got handed down to a cousin when we moved. For my eldest who was 12 at the time we got her a Anne Geddes 'My baby sister' record book. That was a hit.

I found the age gap pretty hard to start with because Sebastian was still more or less a baby himself so he wasn't of an age where he would always follow instruction, entertain himself etc. Feeding was always a challenge, he'd always pick those times that he'd want to sit on my knee and would end up climbing all over Hailey. I used snacks as a distraction a lot during those times.

Now Hailey is one (birthday tomorrow) they have a lovely relationship. Its awesome to hear them 'talking' and giggling to each other in their room each morning. Plus I can leave them in the same room for 2 minutes now to use the loo! Always a bonus.

We have a 17mo gap, the baby gave his big sister a fluffy dog toy (actually, we did, as I wasn't in the maternity unit long enough for her to visit us!) she loves it and it is one of her fave toys. I also recommend anything that will keep them busy while you are feeding (even dvds are great in small doses) or ride on toys etc, just so they arent sooo jealous when you are stuck with a cluster feeding newbie!

DS1 was 26 months when DS2 was born two months ago. DS2 was really into Toy Story at the time so we got a Buzz Lightyear for DS2 to "give" him at the hospital - it was a huge hit but to be honest DS1 was more excited about the baby!

We read two books to DS1 most nights in the lead up, he loved them. They were "Waiting for Baby" and "My New Baby" which won some award or something. They don't have an author as such, it just says "from Child's Play International" on the front, illustrated by Rachel Fuller:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Waiting-for-Baby-Rachel-Fuller/9781846432750

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/My-New-Baby-Rachel-Fuller/9781846432767

Sorry I don't know how to put links in!

Also yes feeding times are the hardest when you are tied to the couch and No 1 is running amok (mine climbs on me/baby as well). I use DVDs to be honest although even that only works for about ten mins at a time before he loses interest! The other thing you can do is have some special feeding toys/activities that only come out at feeding time so No 1 knows they have to maximise the time they have them for. However I found that mine was too young to understand and it caused more problems than it solved.

The double pram was definitely my best purchase ever - when it all gets too much I just strap them both in and go walking for an hour or so. Highly recommend the Baby Jogger City Select!!

we gave DD1 a little couch when DD2 was born - also a 20 month gap - this her couch to have cuddles with the baby.

i was pretty lucky really and found this gap easy as with no problems (until now at 2 and 4 lol) im hoping going from 2 - 3 is just as easy

We had 19 months and DS2 gave DS1 a couple of Thomas the Tank Engine trains (I just picked something he was really into at the time).

I didn't have books for toddlers but we talked a lot about the baby in my tummy and we also looked at the pictures in my pregnancy book. It had both pictures of babies plus profile drawings showing the baby inside the tummy. I think this helped him understand.

We've been really lucky with no obvious jealousy towards baby brother (yet).

We got lots of books out of the library about mummy having a baby in her tummy. Floyds favourite was There's a house inside my Mummy by Giles Andreae.
As he is that much older the baby has got him a leapfrog laptop as most of his friends have them and he always goes straight to them whenever we go on a playdate.

re the couches, we got one at kmart

Oh yeah and the kmart kids couches ROCK!! Best $16 spent ever

We named baby before he was born and referred to him by name when we were talking to DS about him. He kinda made the connection when DS2 came along. Other than that, we didn't really do anything except talk about it alot, daycare also talked about it etc.

I also would always say "You're getting a little brother and you guys are going to be best friends and take care of each other forever" and stuff like "He's going to cry a lot at first and you'll need to be really gentle with him because he's not as big as you but soon you'll be able to play together". Just that sort of preparation I guess. Thankfully there's been no jealousy at all and he doesn't seem to be craving any more attention than normal.