When to tell children about a baby?

[netty.m]

Just found out expecting baby number 3. Already have 2 boys aged 5 and 3. Not sure when to tell them. We want them to know before everyone else but I dont want to tell them to early as 9 months can go very slowly. Any advice.

[buzybee]

Congratulations!!

possibly when you get your scan at 18-20 weeks, you can show them the picture and tell them that this is the first picture of there little brother or sister and they will both be becoming big brothers very soon. Maybe make a weekly calendar with stickers so they can count down the weeks (instead of days) until your due!! It worked really well for a friend of mine and her kids were explaning everything friends and family showing them their calender and letting them know when the baby was popping out of mommys belly!

good luck and take care

[xhxmxsx]

congrats hun, tell them when the 12 week mark is up as i assume you will want to tell everyone after the early stages

[netty.m]

Thanks for your advice. I think we are going to tell them after our first scan when we have a little picture to show them. I want to tell them soon but their dad says its best to wait.

[spudqueen]

I didn't tell my elder son that I was going to have a baby until my bump really started showing. I thought that it would be an awfully long time for him to wait for the new baby even then, I didn't want him to think it was never going to happen. He then also could 'see' where the baby was and could stroke my tummy and talk to the baby.

[chrys353]

When I was pregnant with baby #3, my daughter was 5 and son was 2. We shared it with them right away, the 2 yr old didn't quite understand, so therefore, it didn't matter to him. My daughter had so much fun because we read the book "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" together and she loved speculating about what her brother or sister would look like at that point. We even let them take votes on what to name him. We picked the names we liked and had them vote from those. They loved it and felt like a part of the whole thing. She also was just learning to read, so she read to my belly every night and when the baby got here, he recognized her voice right away. My daughter, whose 9 now, still is very close to the youngest one, who is 3 now.