board books about siblings?

[Marissamom]

DD is 17 months right now, and we're expecting our second in March, when she'll be 21-22 months. We're trying to prepare her for the new baby, and I'd like to read books with/about siblings to her, but she's still very much at an age when she needs board books (concentration and she likes ripping paper and bending covers). So anyone know of some? I'm especially looking for one that shows the baby nursing.

[annettemarie]

We have the board book version of On Mother's Lap and really like it. I can't remember if it shows nursing or not.

[lach]

In all honesty, the ONLY book we found that led to any sort of understanding about having a baby in the house is not particularly AP friendly. It's called "I'm a Big Sister Now," and it quickly became DD's favorite book. She'd recite it and slept with it every night for months. It is a very gentle storyline told in the first person that is very empowering as to what it is like to be a big sister.

Every other sibling book that we saw was designed for much older children. I went through every single sibling book I could find, and they were all plot-driven (kids that age can't follow plots), and an awful lot included hitting the baby or doing something mean out of jealousy. Which is probably appropriate for an older child, but not something I wanted to plant in my 20 month old's head. Especially since, without being able to follow a linear plot through the book, she would not connect the important lesson at the end with the emotions and actions discussed earlier in the book.

My one major issue with this book is that it does not show breastfeeding, but pretty prominently shows bottle feeding. I'm reciting from memory, but the page goes something like: "Daddy says babies cry to tell us something. Let's see what's the matter. The baby is hungry. I can help, because I'm a big sister." Then the picture in our edition, though there's a new edition out with different illustrations so I don't know what it shows, has the father cradling the baby with the big sister holding a bottle in the baby's mouth. I really don't like that about it. HOWEVER, it was far and away the absolutely best book we had for introducing a new sibling, and DD really took it to heart and identified it. She's 3 now, and knows that babies drink Momma Milk, and I'm not even sure she's ever seen a bottle in real life.

I should add: This was almost 2 years ago now, so it's possible that there are newer books on the market. It seems that for so long people tended to space babies out, so all of the books about being an older sibling were written for 3-4 year olds. It would be really nice if some publishers were taking into account that spacing kids less than 2 years seems to be much more common than it was when I was a kid, and published more books for the 18 month+ age.

[annettemarie]

Dr. Sears has two great books-- Baby on the Way and What Baby Needs-- they're very AP friendly and we got them when my oldest was 2, but they're not board books.

[woodchick]

I'm working on memory and by searching Amazon, but I'm pretty sure this book is one I read at our library recently and was impressed by. There was minimal text and two instances of nursing- and no bottles!

http://www.amazon.com/My-New-Baby-Ra...pr_product_top

I liked that there wasn't any "I will hate the new baby sometimes" talk. Why give kids ideas

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I We Have A Baby.

It is written for very young children. The text on each page is very simple. It goes through the things that can be done with the new baby.

The text goes something like this...

We have a baby. A baby to love. A baby to wash. A baby to feed (shows mom nursing). A baby to kiss. etc...

Not only does it show the mom nursing, but it shows the dad doing the bathing and such. The toddler in it is never assigned a gender, so it could work for any child.

ETA: It's not a board book, but I know that my LO outgrew the tearing books stage around 18-20 months, so it might be worth getting and keeping safe for a few months.

[texmati]

I'm also looking for one-- execept for a DS, not a dd. He's 12 months old now, will be 15/16 mos by the time the new one comes.

[pbjmama]

We like Zaza's baby brother. I make the words fit our situation, since my children can not ready yet. They enjoy the illustrations.

[HappyMommy2]

"I kissed the Baby" is a wonderful book!! By Mary Murphy.

ETA ... the only thing mamas on here might not like is that they ask about feeding the baby. BUT - the baby is a duck, and not a mammal anyways!!

[Marissamom]

Originally Posted by HappyMommy2

"I kissed the Baby" is a wonderful book!! By Mary Murphy.

ETA ... the only thing mamas on here might not like is that they ask about feeding the baby. BUT - the baby is a duck, and not a mammal anyways!!

but I want to see them nurse the duck!

Thank you everyone for your recommendations. I haven't looked at all the books yet, but it gives me some places to start. and if anyone else has any more I would love to hear about them.