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 (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
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Feeding – 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 – 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 Duties – 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 Time – Make bath time a fun activity that the older sibling can help with.
One on One Time – 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’re 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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Libby's Library says
August 18, 2014 at 3:06 amAll 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.
Kero Pinkihan says
August 18, 2014 at 4:06 amThese 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!
Robin Rue says
August 18, 2014 at 6:55 amI always got my older son involved with his little brother’s care and I definitely think it helped.
Teresa McCluskey says
August 18, 2014 at 8:58 amAs a mother of two and one on the way I could not agree more! These are perfect ways to get siblings to bond!
Marie Shaff says
August 18, 2014 at 9:39 amThese are definitely some great tips 🙂
justamom8225 says
August 18, 2014 at 10:03 amThese 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.
mrenkema79 says
August 18, 2014 at 10:13 amVery helpful tips!! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Menu says
August 18, 2014 at 11:07 amWhat a great, informative article! Thank you!
Katie @ Cup of Tea Blog says
August 18, 2014 at 11:44 amLove these! Bath times always seem to be such a big hit, but also love feeding meals as well.
Misty Marie Battle says
August 18, 2014 at 11:58 amGreat 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
rachellemama says
August 18, 2014 at 12:03 pmThose 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!
Stefany Thode (@ToBeThode) says
August 18, 2014 at 2:34 pmThese 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.
FamiGami (@famigami) says
August 18, 2014 at 2:36 pmMy daughter isn’t old enough to read, but she still takes out books are “reads” them from memory to her baby sister.
Yona Williams says
August 18, 2014 at 4:27 pmI 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.
Miljoy says
August 18, 2014 at 4:28 pmYou’ve thought of everything! I love that you’ve included so many areas. Will have to refer to these when baby #2 comes along. 🙂
Kungphoo says
August 18, 2014 at 4:36 pmThose are nice tips.. we always encouraged them to hang out together to make sure they bonded..
maureen349 says
August 18, 2014 at 8:55 pmThese 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.
couponqueen925 says
August 18, 2014 at 9:19 pmThese are all great tip! As a mother of 6, I am an advocate of 1 on 1 time!
Jaime Nicole says
August 18, 2014 at 9:23 pmThese 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
Adin Blankenship says
August 18, 2014 at 9:58 pmThese 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!
Mrs. Mashed Up says
August 18, 2014 at 10:01 pmWhat great ideas! I have some friends welcoming their second into the world. I’ll have to be sure to share this with them.
Mama's Happy Hive says
August 19, 2014 at 12:57 amYour children are beyond adorable! This is such an amazing list. I love the time for Big Brother and Baby snuggles. Sweet! 🙂 Pinned!
haber says
August 19, 2014 at 4:44 amYour children are beyond adorable! This is such an amazing list. I love the time for Big Brother and Baby snuggles. Sweet! 🙂 Pinned!32533
Rosey says
August 19, 2014 at 9:10 amYou are my sunshine and Itsy Bitsy Spider are faves here too. And I do remember them making the kids faces light up. 🙂
Sojourner Walker (@sojossojourns) says
August 19, 2014 at 10:46 amThis 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!
katrinagehman says
August 19, 2014 at 5:25 pmawesome ideas, thank you for sharing! love them.
maggiesblog2Maggie says
August 19, 2014 at 10:26 pmAwesome 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
ypg haber says
August 20, 2014 at 4:12 amAwesome 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.
Cat says
May 27, 2015 at 3:51 pmI 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.