Customer Reviews

The New Baby at Your House

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book for my 2 year old as we prepared for his new sibling. Some of the text is a bit too much for such a young child, but the photos lend themselves to telling a story that children of any age can understand. He liked to see the pictures of tiny babies, and also liked to hear how the older children felt about the babies. I think this book really helped him to know what to expect. We have lots of "new baby" books, but I feel this one is superior - photographs rather than illustrations really help young children know what to expect.

I read this book many many times to my children as they expected new siblings (we have three kids). Now I am buying it for my nephew. The reason this book is different from other "New Baby" books is that it gives young children a voice for the often strong negative feelings of having a new sibling. Young kids, preschoolers and younger, can't put words to their emotions. This book shows young children who are angry at their new baby brother or sister, feel they are being abandoned by their parents, feel ignored, feel they don't get any attention anymore, can't stand the sound of crying, hate the smell of diapers that need changing, and more. Your child may not tell you he/she feels these things, but believe me, they all do.
Many parents think that if they keep telling their older child how wonderful the new baby is, and what a big boy/girl their older child is, and "be nice to your new baby," that it will sink in. Well it doesn't work. Older kids are very hurt/threatened/scared but the entry of a new baby in the home. Many liken it to the feelings a woman would have in her husband came home one evening with a new, younger wife and said, "Look what I brought you! Don't worry, I will still love you, even though I love my new wife very much, and I will still have time for you, even though I won't have as much. I want you to love my new wife just like I do, and help her out, because you are older and can do more." HA! Once a young child can see that he/she is not alone in having negative feelings, and can put words to those emotions, they can work on them, explain them to you, and believe it or not, they tend to abate.

This book is a great way to prepare your child for a new arrival because it covers a range of emotions the child might feel (good and bad) and gives the child an idea of what a baby can and cannot do, and what the child can look forward to. I liked this book because it shows a positive image of a mother breast-feeding, which is great to prepare a kid for the new things Mom might be doing. Like other reviewers I agree that the pictures are great and captivate a young child's interest. However, the one thing that did not suit our particular situation was the fact that it describes how Mom will go to the hospital to give birth and we are having a home birth. We added our own words to compensate but I thought I'd let other home birth mothers know. Otherwise, a really nice book!

We bought this for our daughter (along with the author's book "I'm going to be a big sister") and our daughter loves it. She loves looking at the photos of older siblings interacting with their newborn siblings. In fact, our daughter already wants to be involved with changing the diaper and giving baths.

Lets see how she feels in a few years when her sibling is three and follows her everywhere.

My oldest daughter was 20 months old when her sister was born...we stocked up on at least 10 books on being a big sister and new babies. This one, by far, was her favorite and I think I can recite it cover to cover with my eyes closed, as we have read it at least 100 times...

I think because it is filled with pictures of real children and babies, as opposed to illustrations, it really captured her attention. The language was on her level. We read this book for MONTHS after the new baby came home and it really helped us to identify how my daughter was feeling...she would nod her head adamantly at certain points in agreement and mimic some of the situations in the illustrations. It really helped us (her parents) to communicate with a barely talking (or understandable) toddler.

She is now 3 1/2, and we STILL are reading this book!

I had a hard time finding a book to read to my daugher about her sibling on the way and finally decided to give this book a try. It is kinda outdated and has alot of words. It would be better for an older child but most of it went over the head of my 2 1/2 yr old. She likes looking at the pictures but there is not really a story to follow. If you need a book that talks about feelings and the logistics of what happens when a new baby joins your family then this book would be great. For us we just needed a book that talked about what being a big sister was and showed pictures of kids and their baby siblings

The New Baby at Your House is a book that prepares a sibling for all of the ups and downs of having a new baby in the house. With vivid full-color photographs, this book takes a child from a mother's pregnancy, to the first visit to see the baby in the hospital, to the arrival of the baby at home, and all of the new experiences thereafter. It's a great book for discussing the many feelings that a sibling will have toward his or her new brother or sister. I highly recommend this book for all parents to share with children who are preparing for the arrival of a new baby.

I purchased several books to help prepare my than 3 year old daughter for the arrival of her baby brother. This is my favorite primarily due to the beautiful photos. Specific positives:
- Racially diverse families are shown (white, black, hispanic, asian)
- The older siblings are a variety of ages(young toddler through early elementary)
- Multiple stages are highlighted (pre-arrival, arrival including a visit to the hospital, and post arrival up to the baby being about 18 months old)
- The conflicting emotions of having a sibling are shown
- Both breast and bottle-feeding are shown

My daughter enjoys seeing the pictures of other kids with their babies. It helps that the names of 2 of the children match her and her brother's names. There is a lot of text in this book, so it may be too long for a child with a short attention span. However, the pictures are good conversation starters. The text provided me language to use with my daughter to discuss our new baby.

My 2 1/2 year old grandaughter is having a bit of difficulty dealing with a new baby sister. I bought this for my daughter to help her deal with this issue. She read it and feels it has been very helpful.

I bought this and started reading it to my son very soon after I found out I was pregnant (April 2007). He turned 2 in May 2007. He enjoyed the real pictures and the captions that went with them. I did too. I really think that it helped to prepare him for our daughter's birth. He is now 3 and our daughter is almost 8 months old and he still likes reading this book.