If you already have a firstborn or other children, you might find breaking the news of a new baby a daunting process. How will they take it? Will they be jealous or excited? There are many different and very creative ways on how to break the big news that you’re pregnant again. I hope these tips will help you to be creative and come up with your own idea. Or pick and choose from the ones here.
1. Midwife appointments
If you have a chance, take your child with you to your appointments. Hopefully the midwife will be understanding and will help your case. In some places they let the child hold the doppler and hear the heartbeat of the baby, even explain how the baby is positioned in your tummy. Later, when the baby starts to move, your child might enjoy feeling the movements or seeing visible kicks.
2. First ultrasound
Why not take them with you to the first ultrasound? If you still have their ultrasound photos, you could compare the two and explain that once, they were that tiny too.
3. Experience with other babies
Maybe you know somebody who gave birth recently and has a small baby. A visit to this friend would be a good introduction to what your child can expect. You can check the reaction to the baby and maybe drop a few facts which s/he hasn’t quite consciously understood such as babies don’t have teeth or that they can’t speak/see colours well. Hopefully this will trigger some kind of fascination in your child and if you haven’t done it yet, you could use this experience as a base for breaking the news.
4. A personal baby shower
For this you have to wait until you know the gender of your baby. You could hold a tiny baby shower as a family and maybe have a cake or a balloon. Your child has to cut the cake/pop the balloon to reveal the baby’s gender.
5. Letter from the Baby
You could give a letter to your child from the baby, explaining to them that they’re coming. In addition, you could maybe include a scan photo as well.
6. The T-shirt method
You can get a T-shirt that says ‘Big Brother/Big sister’ and explain that it’s for them as a little one is coming along. Or, if you have more children, you can give them numbered Tees based on their birth order. Consequently, they will notice that there is an extra onesie and that’s their clue.
7. Watch a movie together
Watch what happens when a new baby arrives and what to expect. Tell your child that s/he gets to experience this too. Please, let me know in the comments section if you find a film that’s worth sharing with others.
8. Read a book
Luckily, there are a lot of books out there that focus on this subject. Choose one that you think is the most suitable for your child’s level of understanding. I personally loved reading Mama’s Belly from Kate Hosford, it lovingly introduces some of the changes in the family when a new baby is on the way. Another one of my favourite is The Zero year old baby by Marie-Claude Monchaux.
If you find a book that you really like, please share in the comments section.
9. Let them discover
Sometimes children just know that their mummy is pregnant. Maybe they have seen enough bumps around them to recognise what is happening. Whatever the case, it would definitely solve the problem of breaking the news to them!
On this website you can read about how to break the news, broken down by ages of your firstborn.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I collected a few ingenious and creative ideas on how to tell your child that you’re pregnant again. I hope you found something you liked! Whatever method you decide on, it will be a lovely memory for the whole family. In the meantime, if you’d like to read about how to involve your children with the new baby, click here.
What method did you choose and how did it turn out? Do you have any other ideas that you’d like to suggest?