Waiting for Baby (New Baby)

This is a combined/comparison review of 4 “new sibling” books, for an 18-24 month old:I’m a Big Brother by Joanna Cole — my favorite sibling book. It shows a story of a new baby arriving at home (could work for adoption families too). It talks about the things babies likes to do (drink milk, sleep, cuddle) and the “special” things the big brother gets to do (eat pizza, ice cream, walk, play with toys). The main theme of this book is that the big brother is special too (mommy and daddy love big brother, it’s fun being big, now I’m special in a new way/by being a big brother).Waiting for Baby by Rachel Fuller and My New Baby by Rachel Fuller — BY FAR our toddler’s favorites. He consistently chooses these books. The book is written in a disjointed, choppy, stream of consciousness, which supposedly mimics a toddler’s thought process. Well, it works. He loves these books, he really seems to appreciate the short, simple language, and then we talk together about what’s happening in the illustrations. I love that My New Baby normalizes breastfeeding mothers. There is a 3rd book in the series about the evolving sibling relationship, which we’ll definitely be introducing after baby arrives.I am a Big Brother by Caroline Jayne Clark — our least favorite, but still a nice addition to the set.

My 16 month old grandson picks this book out to be read daily. It is helping him prepare for his little brother.

Our absolute favorite big sibling board books are from Rachel Fuller's "New Baby" set (a total of 4 books, we currently have 2; "Waiting for Baby" and "My New Baby"), as they are better aligned with our "crunchy" parenting style, "My New Baby" includes breastfeeding and babywearing in a tasteful way that treats nursing as normal, and the mom in the pictures doesn't "whip it out", as some breastfeeding critics might say.I really appreciate that Fuller's "Waiting for Baby" incorporates going to prenatal appointments and ultrasounds with Mom, and toddler and Dad fixing up dinner while tired, heavily pregnant Mom is resting, an all too common sight at our house since I've had numerous health issues throughout my pregnancy, and require frequent rest, so Daddy being shown participating in the preparation for baby is greatly appreciated.EDIT for fall 2017. Big sister adjusted to her brother very well in July 2016. The only thing she didn't quite grasp from the get go, was that a baby doesn't start off as a fully fledged toddler playmate, but we didn't notice any behavior that could be described as sibling jealousy.We've gone from one big sibling to be to two kids and a third on the way, and we still love the now full set of all 4 books. I catch big sister and her brother reading these together, with the three year old "narrating" what's going on in the pictures, and the one year old middle child to be brings me this book to read quite frequently. It helps a lot to have a means of illustrating rather abstract concepts to the kids. Our now 15 month old is a little too young to understand everything he sees and hears, and I expect to see some sibling jealousy and confusion when we bring home a new baby in the coming couple of weeks, but we are hoping the illustrations will still help with the transition, as they helped his 24 month old sister when he was born.

My book did have words but the story isn't great and leaves something to be desired. That said I still like it as it's the only book I've been able to fine that helps explain what is happening to mommy to our daughter. She loves it. It walks her through mommys doctor apts, why we are getting a nursery ready, why mommy is more tired then usual, why we are getting stuff for baby and ends with mommy and daddy going to hospital while someone (we call her grandma) watches the big sis/brother and that older sibling meeting the new baby. The pictures make up for the lack of story!

Nice book

The brother in waiting loved having this book read to him each night.

Very disappointed to find that there are words in this version of the book! The original was just pictures so it was steering a conversation.

This book is top notch for any parent who want to prepare their kid(s) for a new baby. I have a two year old daughter who I had hoped to prepare before having our newborn son. It has definitely enhanced her understanding, got her more excited and the best part of all- got her interested in getting to know her little brother. I purchased this book when I was just a few months pregnant and got my daughter to read it with me everyday. Of course she doesn't know how to read by herself yet,but because of the incredible illustrations, the toddler in the book could pass off as an older brother or sister; which helped my daughter think it was her they were talking about. After purchasing this book I had wondered if my daughter would loose interest in it after the baby was born, but it's been quite the opposite. She still takes it off the shelf to read. The information in the book has clicked for her- she's now a big sister- like the little girl in the book. She still reads it and talks about how the baby was once in my belly and is now no longer there. I love this book and the transformation it has given my daughter!