Are you expecting your second baby but are worried about how your first-born will deal with the idea of not being the only one?

This is quite a common situation that children, or should I say, parents are faced with. And this situation can become quite ugly due to the elder child feeling ignored and left out with the younger one becoming everyone’s centre of attention.

So, what is the way out? Allow us to offer you one suggestion.

Get your child the book titled – Mommy Loves You Just The Same. Written by author, inspirational speaker, and mommy of three boys – Teresa Gumap – the book is a wonderful way to help your first-born embrace the coming change in all its positivity and joy!

Teresa wrote this book for her two boys when she was expecting her third.

“I was looking for a book that I can use to repeatedly remind my two older children that I love them just the same even with the coming of their baby brother. Since I could not find one with exactly the same message, I composed a poem for them instead,” Teresa said.

Well, all that sounds nice and interesting, but does it really help in accomplishing all that it claims to? Let’s hear from Lifestyle host, co-author of Project Mom, and mommy of three – Amanda Griffin-Jacob: “As a mom of three kids, I love how this book reassures the older kids that we love them just as much as before as well as helping to foster and nurture love for their new sibling. Children can be quite anxious about the arrival of a new baby and this book does well to put those insecurities to rest,”

Oh, btw, did I mention that the book also has coloring pages that can be printed? These illustrations are done by an artist named Jia Rubio-Monserrat. So, the elder kids not only learn, but get a hands-on task to enhance their understanding.

On a scale of 1 to 10, tell me how cool is that?

Well, whichever rating you give, the whole thingy gets all the more cool with these tips on preparing your child for the big change from the same author – Teresa Gumap:

1. Stop calling the child “baby”. We used to call our second child “baby”. But when we got confirmation from my ob-gynaecologist that I’m pregnant again, we started calling our second child by his first name. I also instructed our maids then to stop calling him a baby. Instead, we made him proud to be called a big brother or “Kuya”.

2. Deliberately spend more quality time with the older child/children. This is one way to make deposits in your child’s emotional bank account in preparation for the times when you will be away from him/her. During my previous pregnancies, I did my best to spend as much time as I possibly can to do arts and crafts with them and to have dates with them. Even when I was on bedrest and after giving birth, I would regularly read-aloud books to them. This poem/story was one of those that I read to them.

3. Give your child/children ideas on how they can bond with you while you are pregnant and with their baby brother while still in your womb and after you give birth. Aside from suggesting to my kids what they can do, I let them come up with their own ideas on how they can help me take care of their baby brother. You’ll be amazed at how loving and helpful kids are!

4. Make their birthday before you give birth extra special. On their last birthday before becoming a big brother, I always go out of my way to make these celebrations memorable. I want these events to help make them feel important and special. You may read about my second child’s birthday party here. If you don’t want to throw a party, you can get some ideas here in my other blog post wherein we had a simple celebration for our eldest son.