Waiting for Baby

I bought this for my 28-month-old. I think this would be a perfect gentle book for a younger toddler, but my daughter is used to books that follow a storyline. This is more "snapshots" of pregnancy. On one page they sort through the toddler's old baby clothes. On the next page the toddler accompanies mom to an ultrasound. On one page they paint the baby's room. On the next the mom is napping while the toddler and dad make dinner. They do cover the parents leaving for the birth of the baby and show the toddler staying with an older female adult (in our house we have designated that person either a grandparent or babysitter), which I liked.

I love that there are no references to the toddler giving up a crib (or anything besides old baby clothes). Unlike many other sibling prep books, there are no unflattering comparisons between the baby and the toddler. My daughter still sleeps in a crib and likes it, so I've been frustrated by the number of books out there that assume one crib per family, or that the toddler must "graduate" in order to make way for baby.

We wanted to love this book for our little guy who is about to become a big brother, but in the end, the illustrations and text weren't really practical for us and didn't explain it in a way that made sense for our boy. For example, the child goes to the doctor with the mom for a prenatal appointment and goes to check out clothes at a store, neither of which we do together. They paint the nursery together (not happening for us!). He also wonders if his clothes will fit the new baby. Our son didn't seem to relate, and nor did we. We returned the book. Not a knock on the author or a child who is at home with Mom full-time, but that's just not us! Didn't work out.

This book was extremely helpful in preparing my 2 year old daughter for the recent birth of my son.
The pictures are clear, but the kids clothes and hair is drawn in such a way that any child (boy or girl) can relate to being that child.
Thanks to this book, my 2 year old understood that dropping her off with grandma and grandpa meant Mommy and Dadddy were going to get the baby out of Mommy’s tummy.

Great price for a kids book. However, like all kids books, this book isn’t immune to 2yo tough handling. Although pages themselves are quite thick and won’t tear, the spine of the book suffers under the strain of child handling(mauling).

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.

This is an awful book. It does nothing to explain to a toddler about a new baby arriving and what to expect. There is absolutely no story line, and my toddler (who was around 19 months at time of purchase) was confused after reading this - as was I! So I surprised my husband with reading this book to our toddler. After he read the first two pages, he closed the book, looked at me and said, “This book is awful.” And it is! It just has a child asking a bunch of questions like “Will the baby like this toy?” I was looking for a book that explains to a toddler in layman’s terms what to expect when the baby comes home. This does none of that. I was sold on buying it from the large number of positive reviews, and I totally regret this purchase. Waste of money.

We got some books for my daughter when we found out we were pregnant again. She was 13ish months when we got this. At around 17 months, I had a pinched nerve and we were watching lots of movies so I could lay on the couch. One morning she ran over and grabbed this book, opened it to the page of the pregnant mom laying on the couch, and kept pointing back and forth between the book and my belly lol They really understand more than we give them credit for. I recommend this book to anyone.

I am 7 months pregnant and trying to get my oldest used to the idea of being a big brother. I bought several books for christmas that talk about babies. I was really hoping this book would talk about that but the only thing it offers are questions. It is written from the perspective of a child and the only thing on the pages are questions. I know it is probably supposed to open a dialogure between you and your child but my son is 3- he is looking for a story not questions. I would return it, but it's too much of a hassle.

The pictures were fine but I was puzzled by the text. It seems like it's there to spark discussion between mom and child, but it was awkwardly done. "Will the baby be a boy or girl?" Is the mom then supposed to turn to her child and say, "Is/do you think our baby is a boy or girl?" I dunno. I thought the book was fun but I really didn't like the text. It was awkward and did not stimulate conversation. It asked questions that the little boy would be asking his mommy, but that had no way of being answered from the pictures: "Will is be a boy or a girl?" "Will it have my hair?" So, I just ignored the text and opened the discussion with my child. I was surprised that my son, with no relevant activities between his life and the book's subject, enjoyed the book as much as he did. However, I loved sitting and reading it with him, so there's not much to complain about, I guess!

I’m glad I bought this book despite some of the negative reviews about the book not being informative enough. My 22 month old daughter loves the questions in this book and I feel that it provides an opportunity to have a kind of conversation with her about what to expect at Mommy’s Doctors appts and such. When I read, “Does it hurt?” I can say, “Nope, it doesn’t.” The part where the child is picking out toys for the baby or asking if it will have hair is cute because she nods and smiles and agrees with the book as I read it. I think it’s a great way to talk about the baby that’s on the way with her. We also ordered “My New Baby” by the same author which is structured the same way and explains how to interact with the baby.

I read a few negative reviews about the words before I bought it and I see what they mean but I personally liked it. It doesn't follow a story line like most books but it seems to be questions from the child's point of view. Each line is something a child might think or say so it makes for great conversation starters with your little one. The pictures are brightly illustrated and very cute. My 2 yr old son would point to the mama's belly or the baby clothes (everything really) and ask questions. I feel like it got him thinking about the process and what it means which is exactly what i wanted. I thought the book was very well done.