When will you tell your children that you are pregnant?

[~*max*~]

Hey mamas. I'm wondering when people plan to tell their children about their pregnancies. We are planning on holding off until I am showing, but I am not sure if that will work. My 5 year old son is very intuitive, and I suspect he will guess soon. Today, out of the blue my 4 year old asked if someday I will have another baby brother or sister in my belly. I side stepped that one by asking, "Would you like another baby brother or sister some day?" (She said yes - pheww!) and "What makes you ask that?" (She said she was just thinking about it.)

The reason I am holding off telling right now is that we have recently had a couple deaths in the family, and if I lost this baby, it would be really hard for the kids on top of the others. Also, 9 months is a loooong time for them to be waiting to meet their new sibling.

How are you all handling this one?

[Mammo2Sammo]

We decided to tell him right away. Part of the reason is the very same reason why you are choosing not to tell. I was devastated with our m/c. I knew that I wouldn't be able to hide the loss of this pregnancy. I expect my mourning would be too strong. (although, I certainly understand the reasoning behind your decision.

I was wondering when to tell ds, and it just came out naturally. He asked me what the pregnancy stick was. We had not actively discussed having a baby in the near future before, so I wasn't sure if it was the right time. I told him the test would tell me if mama had a baby growing inside my belly. At the time, there was a very, very faint line. I told him I didn't think there was a baby. The next day, he took the stick pressed it against my belly and spoke loudly "any babies there yet?" It was sweet.

As soon as the test was a strong positive , we told him there was a tiny, tiny baby in me.

[Sydnee]

Umm, we waited about 5 minutes after peeing on the stick! :LOL My thinking is that IF I were to lose this baby, I would more than likely be telling them why mommy was sick/sad, etc. And I want them to be a part of it from the beginning. My kids are 4 and 2, so they might not understand as much as your older ones would, kwim?

[starlein26]

i'll wait until i'm showing since he'll most likely wonder why i have a big belly. :LOL
at this point it's too abstract for him. he's incredibly smart but i still think he wouldn't really "get it."

[peypeymama]

My sister is due soon (the 28th!!!) and I am waiting to see dd reactions to her new cousin. 9 months is a long time to wait... especially if you are only 22 months old!

I think I'd like to get her a special baby doll. Should I give it to her when we tell her about becoming a big sis or when the baby comes? Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

[luckylady]

I told DD and she is VERY excited, asking all sorts of questions - she asked if the baby would come out of my mouth or butt like a poop. I LMAO. Love it. I show her the pictures in the what to expect book so she knows the baby is in there and growing.

I am also going to get her a special baby and a sling when her new sib arrives so she can care for her baby too. :)

[ellymay]

I am going to tell my kids when we tell our parents. My doc appt is Oct 4th so I
should be getting an u/s sound that day and they will give me a copy and we
are going to email the pics to them. After that we will tell the kids. I have already
told my 2yr old but that is bc he doesn't understand so he can't tell anyone....lol...

[cicerosum]

We usually tell once the miscarriage threat is gone.

[maybebaby]

We haven't told yet just out of fear that they'll spill the beans to the in laws before we want them to :LOL

Though I told my not so verbal 2.5 yr old :p but I don't think he quite understands.

My older two, 9 and 6, will probably guess before too much longer. We just don't want to ask them to "keep it from grandma" because it puts them in an odd position and they wouldn't understand that. They don't need to know grandma's a nutbag :p

[ksmommy]

We did right away. My son has been praying for a baby, so I wanted to share that with him. :)

[Eves]

I've started acquainting my son(4) with the idea of a baby in the house. But, he's not very interested.

[busybusymomma]

We told dd and ds a week or so ago. The hard part is dd is ALREADY sooo anxious for her sister (she's sure it's a sister, but I think it will be a boy) to be born. May is a long way away! :LOL I don't think ds really cares or understands although he does like to look at my friends' babies. :) As long as he has access to the boobs, he's cool with almost anything. :wink

[Mamabeakley]

Well, I've told my 18 mo. old, but he doesn't (of course) get it! I told him there was a baby in my belly (pointing to my pubic bone, since the baby's still under there at this very early point.) He knows what a baby is, I guess, and he started poking my belly and asking as if he wanted to know why he couldn't *see* the baby in my belly! :LOL!

He's not very verbal yet, so there's not much risk of him telling anybody accidentally. :wink

I 'spect he'll get it eventually!

[SugarAndSun]

DS is only 10 months so....

[tomtemama]

We've been trying to tell dd (25 months) but she didn't seem to be getting it until a few morning ago she and I were in bed talking and I brought it up again and she seemed to understand. "There's a baby in mama's tummy and it will come out in a while from her vagina (she knows that's where babies come from already) and the baby will have nana too" Everything seemed cool until....

I sat down to pee.....

She was horrified and thought the baby would come out into the toilet. :love

I guess I skipped the part about waiting a LONG time and my tummy getting big. She got that piece of information then and seemed much calmer about the whole thing.