Canton Newborn Photographer | Carrie Bandy Photography | www.carriebandy.com
Welcome to the world Lorelei! Lorelei is one very loved rainbow baby and so obviously adored by her big brother. I’m guessing that first on his list of things to teach his baby sister will definitely be all about his serious love of cows. Who knows? Maybe Lorelei will become a cow lover too, just like her brother.
When preparing for baby number two (or three or four), getting older siblings prepared to welcome their new sibling can be a bit of a challenge. It is really tough to explain to a little person that their world is going to get flipped upside down, and that they will no longer be the only star of the show. Some of the best advice I have found is to talk with the soon to be older sibling about how they will actually be involved with their new baby. It’s easy to talk to them about giving love to the baby and how cute the baby will be, but that won’t tell them how to manage their new role. For example, talking to a three year old about what they can do with and for the baby once it arrives can give them a sense of responsibility and ownership for their new sibling. My 3 year old had a few jobs when her baby sister arrives like handing me the clean diapers, bringing the dirty pacifiers to the kitchen to get washed, and helping me pick out her outfits when she needed to be changed. It sounds so simple and almost silly, but it really helped. When people came to visit the baby and make a big fuss over her, my three year old proudly told everyone about her jobs that she does to help take care of her baby and didn’t seem to mind that the attention was not all on her. There was minimal jealousy and so much less acting out for attention than we had anticipated, and I am pretty sure it was in large part to her sense of ownership of her baby sister. By no means have I figured it all out. In fact most of the time I’m just happy we are all fed and safe by the end of the day. I am just glad I’ve learned some of these tips along the way while trying to make everything work as best as possible for everyone.
PINthisimagePINthisimagePINthisimageCarrie Bandy is a Canton newborn photographer also specializing in families and newborn baby photography in the Canton, Ohio area including Akron and New Philadelphia.
