attitude changes before becoming a big sister- help!

522 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Evan&Anna's_Mom, Oct 2, 2003

SabraMamma

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2003

My DD is 3 years and 4 months old. I am expecting our second baby in approximately 5 weeks. My DD is super psyched to be becoming a big sister, but in the past week her attitude and demeanor has totally changed. She is usually very easy going, sweet, sensitive, and helpful. Lately she is constantly defying my DH and me- saying no all of the time, refusing to clean up, throwing fits when it is time to leave fun places (or any place at all), refusing to talk when we ask her questions, etc. This is all very abnormal behavior for her. It's not like this all of the time but we have a few episodes each day. We have tried to take some priveleges away from her and are really trying to work thru this. Yesterday was a great day!! So, my question is... Is this related to the baby on the way? Have any of you experienced this? I know that it may be tough once the baby is here, but I never thought that we would have a rough time before we actually had the baby.

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L.J.

· #2 · Oct 2, 2003

My first thoughts: I would think it's just typical 3 year old behaviour.
Additionally: With only a few weeks left you may not be moving around or doing as much as before....maybe she's reacting to a subtle change in routine.

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Evan&Anna's_Mom

· #3 · Oct 2, 2003

I had my daughter when my son was just about the age you describe. And we saw much of the same behaviour right before "due date" time. In addition, we had a major reversal in potty habits. It surprised me that it mostly happened before the baby arrived. In our case, it seemed to be timed to the point when we started talking more about the baby's arrival. So if you have recently stepped up the discussions to prepare her, this may be the result.

The good news is that our super sweet kid was back not long after the baby arrived. I think he expected it to be worse than it was.

We decided that we would let some expectations slide and hold our ground on only the really important (i.e. safety) issues. We didn't have any trouble re-instating standards a few months down the line, but we did lighten up a lot for about the first 3 months.

Good luck!

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