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Explaining babies to young toddlers

post #1 of 19
6/1/08 at 12:47pm
Thread Starter 
DD is just under 21 months. So, pretty young to really explain this baby business.

The other day as we were comfy in bed and she was nursing I was telling her how there's a baby in my belly and asked her if she'd like having a baby around. She looked at me with this serious face and just said: "No!" We laughed and I didn't think anything of it. Half the time she doesn't really mean no when she says it. She just enjoys the power of the word I think.

But then a few days later DH had a similar sort of baby conversation with her and she pointed to my belly and said (and signed) "Baby!" and spent a long time explaining to DH something that we couldn't figure out. So perhaps she's feeling good about the idea? She's spending a lot of time petting my belly too.

How about you guys, have you told your little toddlers?

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post #2 of 19
6/1/08 at 2:01pm
my ds is only 13 mos, so no. not yet. i don't even know when we'll try, but probably not for a while.
post #3 of 19
6/1/08 at 6:16pm
We've told DS. He's almost 2. We'll ask his whats in mama's belly and he says 'babies!' I'm hoping there is only one!
post #4 of 19
6/1/08 at 7:05pm
i am such a worry wart that i wanna wait untl after 12 weeks to tell my 2yr old
post #5 of 19
6/1/08 at 7:30pm
We told my 3 year old right away and he had a TON of questions. We got out a book that shows the progression of what the baby looks like as he/she develops. The funny thing is my almost 2 year old came along and saw a very enlarged picture of a blastocyte and pointed to it and said, "Oh... baby!" Like he could still remember when he was that little!

Now that several more weeks have passed the two year old points to my belly, waves, and says, "Hi, baby."

But the funniest thing of all, is that he points to his belly and INSISTS that there is a baby in there. When I tell him, "No. There's no baby in there..." He gets very adamant until I agree. It's hilarious!
post #6 of 19
6/1/08 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not stressing the baby thing and I think DD has sort of forgotten about it. We'll work on it more as the belly starts to grow I think.

She's just in the stage where she wants to nurse all her toys (and me!) so I think we're going down the "there's a baby in my belly too" path too lol.
post #7 of 19
6/1/08 at 10:44pm
DS is 24 months and I kind of feel like he can't really get it yet. I say it sometimes, but I don't think I'll buy any books or anything until my belly is bigger. He likes kids and babies, so I'm not too worried...although I do know that it'll be a big adjustment, of course.
post #8 of 19
6/2/08 at 12:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jr'smom View Post
But the funniest thing of all, is that he points to his belly and INSISTS that there is a baby in there. When I tell him, "No. There's no baby in there..." He gets very adamant until I agree. It's hilarious!
my cousin's three-year-old does the same thing! she get very upset if you tell her there's no baby in her belly. my cousin is due next week, so i wonder what isabelle is going to say when an actual baby comes out of mommy's belly!
post #9 of 19
6/2/08 at 11:25am
S is 13 months and doesn't know. C is almost 3 and knows that there is a baby in my tummy.
post #10 of 19
6/2/08 at 12:01pm
My dd is 19 mos and we've told her there is a baby in mama's belly. If you ask her what's in mama's belly she'll say "baby!" (sometimes). I don't think she really understands, though. I think it will be more clear to her when my belly starts to grow bigger.

She was feeding her doll some toast the other day and said, "oh, baby want toast?" and tried to put it in my bellybutton. It cracked me up.
post #11 of 19
6/2/08 at 12:50pm
We told DD (3 yrs) about 2 weeks ago. She is VERY excited. She tells me how much she can't wait to be a big sister, she wants a brother AND a sister (gosh I hope not at the same time!), she must ask me 10 times a day if she can say hi to the baby. She kisses my belly and says "Hi Baby! I love you!". It's really quite sweet. We watch House of Babies and some other Discovery Health Channel baby shows so that she is aware of what will happen. We also have showed her my pregnancy pics from her, and the ultrasound photos from her as well. We're also taking her to the prenatal check ups so she will get to hear the baby's heartbeat, etc. I think the 3 year age gap will help her to really feel involved and a part of the new baby.
post #12 of 19
6/2/08 at 2:15pm
my youngest is only 14 months, so no.

Other than that we've found, in the past, that it's easiest to figure out for babies when they have the large tummy to associate with it. Besides, kids have big mouths... so we don't really tell/discuss/etc until 7ish months for the younger kids. My oldest knows (7yo) from overhearing; my 5 and 3 yo don't care at all.
post #13 of 19
6/2/08 at 4:08pm
My DSD is on the older scale here, (almost 4)... she is very excited to be a big sister. We got her books and she pats my belly and says hi to the baby at times. She was SOOO excited about the ultrasound. I walked in the door Friday and she was right there to meet me... "are we going to go see the baby now!!?" She thought it was really cool and now she is wondering how long it has to grow for. lol She tells everyone apparantly too. Everyone at daycare knows all about it and they kept asking me how I was doing and such at her graduation a few weeks ago. Caught me a little by surprise because I had no idea they knew. lol It was cute though and it's really nice to see her so excited.
post #14 of 19
6/2/08 at 5:15pm
My daughter is 19 months, but non-verbal. I did tell her, but I don't think she understands at all. If you ask her about 'baby' she goes and gets her newborn-sized doll. She did look curiously at my belly when I told her there was a baby in there.
post #15 of 19
6/3/08 at 5:57pm
my son is 19 mos old and we tell him there's a baby in mommy's belly and he gets this very serious look on his face and just looks at us like "So....anyone care to explain how that happened?!?!?!" He kills me!
post #16 of 19
6/4/08 at 12:33am
My son is 2yo and he *loves* babies. But I haven't explained it yet. I will try when I get bigger!
post #17 of 19
6/4/08 at 10:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by annanicole View Post
my son is 19 mos old and we tell him there's a baby in mommy's belly and he gets this very serious look on his face and just looks at us like "So....anyone care to explain how that happened?!?!?!" He kills me!
too funny--this is similar to my 19 mos. old dd! I've told her once or twice and she just looks at me like I am crazy....why would there be a baby in there?!
post #18 of 19
6/4/08 at 10:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by annanicole View Post
my son is 19 mos old and we tell him there's a baby in mommy's belly and he gets this very serious look on his face and just looks at us like "So....anyone care to explain how that happened?!?!?!" He kills me!
: My dd looks at me like, "sure lady, I'll play along with your silly game."
post #19 of 19
6/5/08 at 3:32pm
DD is 20 months old. We told her the first day we found out and she spent the next day pointing at my belly and saying "baby" periodically. But, nothing since then. She's also obsessed with babies lately, so it could have been a coincidence.
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