Books to Help Kids Prepare for a New Sibling

During my pregnancy with my second child, not a day passed that I did not freak out. I have to push another human out of my body. I wave to wipe another butt. What have I gotten myself into? I have to give up sleep again. I am going to be raising two children.

“Girl, please,” friends said. “We all freak out.”

Yeah, we do. Except I didn’t know a thing about siblings.

I am an only child. My mom used to say that she and my dad liked each other the one time, enough to have me, and then were done. I’m told I didn’t do well with sharing. So just like when I was pregnant with my first child, I turned to books to figure out what the hell I was going to do to prepare my almost three-year-old to become an older sister.

As most pregnant people can confirm, it’s difficult remembering how to function when you’re building a human in your body, much less try to read a book on the psychological effects of birth order. To reach your audience, you need to think like your audience. And to think like a three-year-old, you’ve got to get to the children’s books.

books prepare for new sibling

Books to Help Prepare for a New Sibling

Here’s a short list of books we loved as we prepared for Baby #2:

Waiting for Baby by Rachel Fuller—Fuller has a series of books to help your little prepare to be an older sibling. With bright colors and recognizable activities, these books are a great way to indoctrinate your kid to Sibling Life.

The New Baby by Mercer Mayer—Who doesn’t like Little Critter? Follow along as he learns what it’s like to be a big brother to a baby sister. Just Me and My Little Brother is also available.

books prepare new sibling

Fans of Daniel Tiger can enjoy two books that talk about the transition: The Baby Is Here! and Big Brother Daniel. These were very relatable to Big Smalls as we prepared her to become a big sister, and she loved being able to watch the episodes after we read the books.

Babies Don’t Eat Pizza: A Big Kids’ Book About Baby Brothers and Sisters by Dianne Danzig—This is such a great book because the content covers how babies are born in a non-squeamish way, shows multicultural families and different ways to feed babies, and much more, including a page full of tips for parents.

And I would be remiss not to include Mr. Rogers’ The New Baby. Sure, the pictures are dated, but you can almost hear Mr. Rogers’ voice telling the story as you read along with your kiddo.

Planning a home birth? There are books for that, too! I didn’t birth at home (birth center), but these books covered all the important topics:

Mama, Talk About When Max Was Born by Toni Olson

Mama Midwife: A Birth Adventure by Christy Tyner—I’m partial to this one because the story is told from the perspective of Miso, whose mama is a midwife. This book makes for a great way to talk about the different ways and places people birth.

Waiting for Baby: A Sibling Visits the NICU by Jennifer Bracci is a fantastic book available for siblings preparing to visit baby in the NICU. It gently introduces sights and sounds they may experience and prepares them for bonding with their little sibling.

There are many, many, many books out there available for you to choose from because families are made in many, many, many different ways. I’d love to hear what books you’ve used for your family. Leave your favorites in the comments!

 

Amanda R.
Amanda is a native Texan who spent a few years in the Boston area. Newish to the stay-at-home mom gig, she’s mother to an eight-year-old wilding and a five-year-old diva. When not trying to herd those cats, she runs a doula agency, Journey to Motherhood (@motherhoodsatx), and works as a San Antonio birth doula and childbirth educator. She has been married to her husband for almost nine years, which also means learning the ways of being a military spouse. Upon his return from his first deployment in their relationship, she surprised him by proposing to him when she finished her first half marathon (more like she held up a ring and he said yes). Their honeymoon was a babymoon (ehh) to Italy, followed by another deployment, building a new home, and having another child. Much time at home is spent cultivating a medicinal and vegetable garden (she’s a modern hippie), reading all kinds of books (everyone is a book nerd), crafting cocktails (because yum), documenting shenanigans and social activism on Instagram (@optimisticheathen), and holding spontaneous dance parties in the living room.