The idea of pregnancy for a preschooler can be quite interesting to say the least. There are millions of questions that come along with it and an adjustment period especially for the youngest child. So far, (I’m 20 weeks as I write this post) I believe my husband and I have handled our pregnancy communication pretty well with our kids and especially our 4-year-old. (The preteens had their sex talk last year so they know the truth and don’t have questions, haha)
I’m sharing my experience to hopefully help any other pregnant mamas know what to expect from a preschooler when pregnant.
Questions we had to answer
For me, my husband and I did IVF so for months we were preparing for the baby and it was no secret from our children (4,11 & 12 at the time). Therefore we got to avoid the hard question of “How did the baby get in your tummy?” With an easy answer: “The doctor put the baby inside mommy.” Of course there were more questions about how the baby was made we said the “doctor took a piece of dad and took an egg from mommy and made the baby.” If you’re religious you can say God instead of the doctor which is what I told my older girls when we were pregnant with the 4-year-old.
Read about Pregnancy
Ivy wants to know and understand EVERYTHING about the baby. Starting with, when is my brother going to get here? Our favorite book thus far has been How Big is Our Baby. It allows my daughter to have an idea of how big the baby is each month and creates a concrete idea of what’s going on in kiddy terms. The book also talks about after the baby comes and possible emotions they may have during pregnancy. It was a good way to open up the conversation about how she was feeling and the different
Share an Ultrasound
During COVID only my husband can come to most ultrasounds so I decided to get a private ultrasound and take the kids! This way they can see the baby moving around and for the 4-year-old it truly made the pregnancy real. The baby was an actual baby she could see move. It was truly an exciting time for her. The only downside is she wants to go back everyday.
Allow kids in on thee Fun
When we were discussing names we let the kids come up with ideas as well. While, we may not choose the names they choose, Snowflake was more of a dog name we decided, it helps them to be included.