With the twins about to come any week now, we’ve had several months of preparing our three year old for the new additions to our household. One of the best ways to explain what could potentially be the biggest change in kids’ lives—the arrival of new siblings—is to read books about welcoming a baby.
Below are some of the books we enjoyed reading to our son. We tailored the language to fit our circumstances (e.g. “big brother,” “the babies,”). Hopefully this list can help you introduce the idea of your new baby to your older kids.
- I’m a Big Brother or I’m a Big Sister by Joanna Cole
- Babies Don’t Eat Pizza by Dianne Danzig
- We Have a Baby by Cathryn Falwell
- My New Baby by Rachel Fuller
- The New Baby by Mercer Mayer
- Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers
- Hello Baby! by Lizzy Rockwell
- The New Baby by Fred Rogers
- Baby on the Way by William Sears
- Waiting for Baby by Harriet Ziefert
Edit: Below are more books based on SSBE reader comments:
- Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
- What Baby Needs by William Sears
- Baby Loves You So Much by Eileen Spinelli
Did you have a favorite book you read to your older children about their new baby brother or sister?
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While we have not read books with our daughter yet about having a new baby in the house (the concept for her has been very abstract, so we’ve eased into it), we have read Peter’s Chair, by Ezra Jack Keats, and she’s really enjoyed and talked a lot about it, primarily because we’ve been setting up the baby’s room. She’s noticed quickly that “her” baby stuff was being reused and the book really helped her come to grips that sharing things that she was too big for with her little brother could be a rewarding thing.
Corie, thanks for mentioning Peter’s Chair; totally forgot about that one! I’ll add it to the list. Hope all is going well with your pregnancy
Nina recently posted..10 children’s books about a new baby
Twins! How fun!!!! I love reading to my kids. I always use “The Read Aloud Handbook” to help me find great choices!!!
Tiffany recently posted..My kids right now
Hi Tiffany, I’ve also found the Read Aloud Handbook to be a good guide too. Thanks for mentioning it!
Nina recently posted..10 children’s books about a new baby
Great list! My kids loved numbers 1 and 7-10 from your list!
maryanne @ mama smiles recently posted..Kid Quotes: Fiction
Thanks, MaryAnne!
Nina recently posted..10 children’s books about a new baby
We liked “What Baby Needs” by the Sears’ and “Baby loves you so much” by Eileen Spinelli , and # 1 on your list
Hi Allison, What Baby Needs is another good one in addition to Baby on the Way (both by the Sears’). I haven’t heard of Baby Loves You So Much—thanks for the recommendation!
Nina recently posted..10 children’s books about a new baby
My wife and I are now expecting baby number two, and used I’m a Big Sister as a way of telling my in-laws that she was pregnant. We had our daughter take books to my father-in-law to read to her and he looks down and asks her “Are you a big sister??” And out came the news! Great list, I’ll definitely be looking at more of these as a way to introduce a new baby to our daughter!
Congrats, Nick! What a cool idea to share the news to the rest of the family. And yes, these books became great conversation starters with our son.
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Great list! I wish there were some better books to prepare siblings for twins, though. I mean I know twins aren’t the norm but I didn’t find anything good when i was expecting my twins. I’ve always thought I should write one–maybe you should too!
The most important thing I impressed upon my 2.5 year old son was that I would be feeding the babies ALL THE TIME when they came out (and i was for about 8 weeks when it finally began to ease up) and we planned lots of things he could do while I was nursing, snuggling on the couch next to me was #1!
Again, good luck and congratulations!
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Hi Mia! Good reminder to let my kiddo know just how much time it’ll take to nurse the babies. Since I’m so indisposed right now being so huge and useless and all, I have this freakish view that once I deliver, I’ll have more time to spend with my three year old. Something tells me though that even that will have to wait as I rest and recover and feed these babies!
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