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15 Tips To Encourage Sibling and Baby Bonding

August 18, 2014 by Jackie Cravener 29 Comments

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ย 15 Tips To Encourage Sibling and Baby Bonding - www.iheartartsncrafts.com

So you’ve prepared your child for his/her new little sibling as we mentioned in our previous post Promoted To Big Brother | Tips For Introducing Baby #2, and now your oldest could care less or may be starting to feel a little bit of jealousy. How do you encourage some much needed sibling and baby bonding?

Our oldest son has been the best big brother his little sister could ask for, he is always so proud of helping and looking out for her. Because Little A is now mobile ย (Crawling backwards, but it’s a start right!) she needs even more attention and that’s where we started to see some sibling jealousy start. So we’ve given him even more big brother tasks that he’s always more than happy to help with and try to incorporate activities that they can both do, which is pretty limited when one is 7 months and the other 2 years old! Here are some ways that we’ve encouraged bonding with our toddler and baby that have brought them even closer.

Sibling Bonding Tips

15 Tips To Encourage Sibling And Baby Bonding

Feedingย – One of our son’s favorite big brother duties is helping to feed his sister her baby food and of course picking out what kind she should have for the day.

Sharing – ย When we have play time I like to encourage him to try to share one of his toy’s that his sister would be able to play with to take turns sharing. This has helped with sharing when we have play dates with other children too!

Singing – Our favorite song is ‘You are my sunshine’ or ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ so chose your favorite and your babies face will light up when they see their big brother/sister sing to them!

Painting – Once our daughter was old enough to sit up on her own we started with some fun edible baby safe art activities like our Edible Neon Finger Paints.

Pictures – I have thousands of pictures of my kids just like every mom and I didn’t want my son to feel left out of the picture taking when we did our monthly pictures of our daughter. So we include him in on it too! Except he takes the ‘selfies’ with his sister on my iphones camera.

Reading – If your oldest child is old enough to read they can read to them. Because our son is only 2 he will hold the book for his sister and point out different things on the pages that he likes. This is my favorite activity because I love seeing them together like this!

Play – Try different activities that are great for different age groups so that you can include both of them in. Even if you’re doing tummy time have your other child get down on the floor with them or encourage them to crawl!

Big Sibling Dutiesย – Along with the little things that Jace likes to help out with the one that he always makes sure to do is to show his sister our good touch and bad touch. Anytime his sister gets a hold of something she shouldn’t like a Hot Wheels car or some kind of toy she shouldn’t have of her brothers like a choking hazord, he will tell her “No touch sissy” and remove it from her hands!

Help with bed time – Usually Aria is the first to bed at night, so we like to include Jace into her good night routine and have him tuck her in at night and a good night kiss!

Baby Snuggles – Mommy doesn’t have to be the only one snuggling up with baby, give the older sibling some time to snuggle with them too! As long as they are old enough. When Aria was able to hold her head up by herself and Jace understood how fragile she was, was when we started letting him hold her for a few minutes with us there.

Talk – Always the most important! Even if your baby doesn’t understand what your saying yet remind both of them how important EACH of them are!

Bath Timeย – Make bath time a fun activity that the older sibling can help with.

One on One Time – ย When we put our daughter to bed with the help of our son we like to spend that time at night before it’s his bed time for just some one on one time. Although you’reย needed even more now with two children to raise it’s so important to give each one that undivided attention with their parents!

Craft For Baby – As we mentioned in our previous post Promoted To Big Brother| Tips For Preparing For Baby #2 make a craft for the baby. Like something for the nursery a picture frame or a drawing.

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Filed Under: Motherhood Tagged With: baby bonding, Parenting Tips, sibling bonding, Tips

Comments

  1. Libby's Library says

    August 18, 2014 at 3:06 am

    All great ideas. Many of them, we used when our family was growing…and they worked! All of our kids (we have 10) got along quite well when they are young and are now very close as adults.

    Reply
  2. Kero Pinkihan says

    August 18, 2014 at 4:06 am

    These are great tips! thank you for sharing. My friend will give birth to a daughter next month. She’s asking all friends to suggest ways her 8 year old son and the new baby can bond. Your list are fun and practical so will pass this on. thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  3. Robin Rue says

    August 18, 2014 at 6:55 am

    I always got my older son involved with his little brother’s care and I definitely think it helped.

    Reply
  4. Teresa McCluskey says

    August 18, 2014 at 8:58 am

    As a mother of two and one on the way I could not agree more! These are perfect ways to get siblings to bond!

    Reply
  5. Marie Shaff says

    August 18, 2014 at 9:39 am

    These are definitely some great tips ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  6. justamom8225 says

    August 18, 2014 at 10:03 am

    These are great tips! I think having older siblings read to younger siblings if a great way to bond too. And did you know, baby’s head/hair has pheromones designed to facilitate bonding? I don’t know how true that is, but I found that neat.

    Reply
  7. mrenkema79 says

    August 18, 2014 at 10:13 am

    Very helpful tips!! Thanks for sharing! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  8. Menu says

    August 18, 2014 at 11:07 am

    What a great, informative article! Thank you!

    Reply
  9. Katie @ Cup of Tea Blog says

    August 18, 2014 at 11:44 am

    Love these! Bath times always seem to be such a big hit, but also love feeding meals as well.

    Reply
  10. Misty Marie Battle says

    August 18, 2014 at 11:58 am

    Great post, with some great tips. My older ones love helping out with the younger ones. I remember when the twins were newborns my older kids would love holding them and taking care of them

    Reply
  11. rachellemama says

    August 18, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    Those sound like great tips for sibling bonding! I have no siblings, nor does my husband or daughter, so this is a new area for me lol!

    Reply
  12. Stefany Thode (@ToBeThode) says

    August 18, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    These are all such great ideas! My kids are all past the point of helping with each other but I used many of these when the girls were younger.

    Reply
  13. FamiGami (@famigami) says

    August 18, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    My daughter isn’t old enough to read, but she still takes out books are “reads” them from memory to her baby sister.

    Reply
  14. Yona Williams says

    August 18, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    I love that phrase: “The greatest gift my parents gave us was each other” – that is so sweet. It took me until after I graduated from college to truly appreciate my brother; we are really close now.

    Reply
  15. Miljoy says

    August 18, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    You’ve thought of everything! I love that you’ve included so many areas. Will have to refer to these when baby #2 comes along. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  16. Kungphoo says

    August 18, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    Those are nice tips.. we always encouraged them to hang out together to make sure they bonded..

    Reply
  17. maureen349 says

    August 18, 2014 at 8:55 pm

    These are great tips! I like how you’ve included so many different ones as every child should be able to find at least a few that work for them.

    Reply
  18. couponqueen925 says

    August 18, 2014 at 9:19 pm

    These are all great tip! As a mother of 6, I am an advocate of 1 on 1 time!

    Reply
  19. Jaime Nicole says

    August 18, 2014 at 9:23 pm

    These are good tips for somebody who is planning on having more than one child. I have my one and will not have any more. By choice and made it permanent but I will definitely pass this on to my niece who is expecting #2

    Reply
  20. Adin Blankenship says

    August 18, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    These are some wonderful tips and thanks for sharing them. I have two kids, a boy and a girl and I do my best to let them know I love them both equally. As much as I can or we can, we let them involve in certain activities and have sibling bonding time. So far my kids get a long well, but there are times where they are just like cats and dogs. Most of the time though they love each other. They love taking naps together, eating together, and they do well on road trips and riding together in the back of the vehicle. And like you said, spend one on one time with each kids. It is so important for them to know that they are loved and not left out. Thanks again!

    Reply
  21. Mrs. Mashed Up says

    August 18, 2014 at 10:01 pm

    What great ideas! I have some friends welcoming their second into the world. I’ll have to be sure to share this with them.

    Reply
  22. Mama's Happy Hive says

    August 19, 2014 at 12:57 am

    Your children are beyond adorable! This is such an amazing list. I love the time for Big Brother and Baby snuggles. Sweet! ๐Ÿ™‚ Pinned!

    Reply
  23. haber says

    August 19, 2014 at 4:44 am

    Your children are beyond adorable! This is such an amazing list. I love the time for Big Brother and Baby snuggles. Sweet! ๐Ÿ™‚ Pinned!32533

    Reply
  24. Rosey says

    August 19, 2014 at 9:10 am

    You are my sunshine and Itsy Bitsy Spider are faves here too. And I do remember them making the kids faces light up. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  25. Sojourner Walker (@sojossojourns) says

    August 19, 2014 at 10:46 am

    This is fabulous! My oldest is about to turn three and I have a six week old. Right now he’s an enthusiastic and loving older brother (minus a few regressions), but once my youngest starts to crawl/sit up, I can see how a new wave of jealousy may arrive. I’m pinning your post for future reference. Thank you!

    Reply
  26. katrinagehman says

    August 19, 2014 at 5:25 pm

    awesome ideas, thank you for sharing! love them.

    Reply
  27. maggiesblog2Maggie says

    August 19, 2014 at 10:26 pm

    Awesome tips! I’m lucky and my kids all get along and no jealousy here! I had them so far apart how could they be lol

    Reply
  28. ypg haber says

    August 20, 2014 at 4:12 am

    Awesome tips! I'm lucky and my kids all get along and no jealousy here! I had them so far apart how could they be lol.

    Reply
  29. Cat says

    May 27, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    I had to do a double take for a second. My oldest son is named Jace too! These were awesome tips for helping him cope as a big brother to little Lincoln.

    Reply

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