Todlers and newborn babies?how you teach them to be gentle?

[♥Heaven Sent♥]

Hi there,
I have a 9.5month old daughter and i am 17 weeks pregnant.My friend just had a newborn and bub was touching the baby and i was scared that she would hurt the baby.So i kept telling her to be gentle.i just wanted to know how your todlers went with your newborn baby were they gentle?How did you Prepare/teach them to be gentle to a newborn.My daughter will be 15months when this ones due and not sure wat i can do to prepare?
Any advice would be great!!:)

[BJelly]

Hi,

I'm not sure how well this works with other kids, but when my bub starts to hit or bite or get overexcited with her movements, I pull away and say, "no biting"/ "No teeth", or "be gentle". I am calm in my movements and firm but not harsh with my voice. I'll also show her how to be gentle by taking her hands and softly touching my face - that sort of thing.

I'm happy to say, my little girl is gentle most of the time. She does forget sometimes - especially when she gets excited, so it's just a matter of reminding her not to to bite or to be gentle. I also play with her a lot on the floor and muck around doing physical play where she climbs over me etc, and that is good practice for her too. Maybe get you partner to do this sort of play while teaching her to be gentle if you need to keep your unborn baby safe.

I saw my bub playing with other kids for the first time last weekend, and I was really pleased to see how well she played with them. Touch wood.

[the_queen]

BJelly - great suggestions!:D
I was going to say pretty much the same things: Show her how to be gentle. Be gentle to her, and say things like "it's so nice when we're gentle with each other, isn't it?" Set her up for success - ie don't leave her alone with the baby and then get cross with her when she is rough. I think the most important thing is to really strongly encourage the kind of behaviour you want, so praise her when she is gentle. :)

[Chickadee]

We started teaching DD "gentle" when she started sitting up and being able to pet our dogs. Her first instinct was to pat up and down rather hard, at 6 month old she didn't have much control :rolleyes: I would tell her "gentle" and physically take her hand to stroke them instead or pat them gently. I also would tell & show her if she happened to hit me or anyone else. It only took a few times really for her to understand the word and she would back off when asked to. It took longer for her to get physical control to be able to start gently, but with your daughter already being older she should get it pretty quickly.

I've also tried to always be gentle in my language to her. From the start (around 4 months old) I have told her "no thank you" instead of just "No". That has also helped with teaching her to be gentle, if I want her to stop an action (like hitting the dogs or taking something at the shop), I just have to tell her No Thank YOu and she quits. At 2 years old now, when her dad is teasing her & she doesn't like it I am trying to get her to say No Thank You to him, and am making him respect that & quit annoying her if she says it.

You really do have to practice what you preach and be an example of how you want your children to behave.

[♥Heaven Sent♥]

Great advice thanks girls.We have pets too and she is quite gentle with them and she plays good with other kids too.I have always asked her to be gentle when patting the cats or dog and she does quite well i just have to teach her now to be gentle with babies.:)

[TwoBlue]

MY advice is the same as the others,to teach now to be gentle.

In saying that my DS is sooooo gentle and adorable with his baby brother but occasionally he gets a bit rough... Ds #2 doesnt seem to mind so much though, they are so much more resiliant than you think :p