Welcoming another baby into your family is exciting, but for many second-time parents the excitement can be tempered with the fear that your baby and their sibling won’t get along. You’ve had a baby before, sure, but not with an older child in the house! How’s that going to go? Is your older child going to the new arrival? Is the baby going to like their sibling? And if the initial meeting goes off without a hitch, i there a way t tell if your baby is falling in love with their sibling?
This was a huge source of anxiety me. My son was, as many only-children are, the unquestioned center of my world the moment he entered it. Not that I didn’t have a life outside of him, of course, but he was definitely my favorite part of it. I knew, deep down, that I’d certainly love this new baby as much as I loved her brother… but what if they didn’t love each other? Was it going to be like that time in high school when my two best friends didn’t speak to each other for a year, because that sucked.
Turns out I didn’t have to worry — we somehow lucked out of the very typical “jealous phase” and, as we speak, my 5- and 7-year-old are playing upstairs together, giggling.
Clinical psychotherapist Kevon Owen explains that, in many cases, a growing love between siblings will come just from being around one another. “Familiarity is closely related to comfort,” he tell Romper via email. “At very early ages you may not know who people are, but you know who is present in giving you love and attention. You can encourage recognition by allowing older siblings to be a part of attention and care.”
Kevon Owen is a featured contributing author in this article. To read the complete article please click this link. For child and adolescent therapy in Edmond Oklahoma call Kevon at 405-740-1249 or click this link.
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