What are some things that an older child might do after another child is brought home?

Question

A friend of mine just had a new baby and she has a 6 and a half year old(has been potty trained since age 2) at home. Never had this problem before but since the new baby has been home the older child has been wetting the bed, not every night but at least twice a week.

Any advice on how to help get her older one back on track and not wet the bed?? Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

FYI--she has tried not giving him anything to drink 2 hours before bed, and other sorts of disicipline(SP) like taking away privilages and such.

Answer 1

Well, he is feeling stress about the change, so he needs help dealing with it.  Make sure he is getting enough attention.  It's easy to forget about the older kid when a baby needs so much!  Make sure he knows the baby is HIS too.  Talk to him about how much more he can do because he is older.  He can do so many things the baby can't.  He is a Big  Brother now, and will have to teach and protect the baby just like the parents do.

Also, since it seems he has a need to "regress" [go back to a younger form of behavior], find ways for him to do it that are acceptable to you, and that he will accept too.  Maybe he'd like to drink water from a bottle.  Maybe there is some baby toy he likes to play with.  Or, sometimes in a playful way, pick him up and carry him like a baby and tell everybody how cute your baby is.  This is if he likes the idea only!  If he doesn't like it, of course don't do it.

Show him some things he used to do when he was a baby.

Answer 2

what that is  normal for a kid to do that but maybe she feels a lone like for gotten or something because of the new baby:-)

Answer 3

I have same age gap between my 2 , and also work with children. Maybe try getting older child involved with daily tasks with baby, Giving him only special jobs a big brother can do and making him feel that he is really needed. Maybe taking time out(know that very difficult) to spend 1-1 with him away from house baby etc. This will probably pass as takes a lot of adjusting for them especially having you for 6 years all to himself. Hope all works out soon for you good luck.

Answer 4

Sounds like the 6 yr old is a little jealous of all the attention the new baby is getting. Kids like attention...positive and negative. Tell your friend not to make a huge deal about the bed wetting and to show the 6 yr old how great it is to be 6. Tell him that being a big brother is very important and show him all of the things that he can do that the baby cannot. Like he can play at the park and he can feed himself and he gets to play with friends, and ride a bike. He will eventually snap back to his old self. My 3 yr old did all of the same things when we brought home a new baby. I just kept telling him he was a great helper and I loved that he could do so many things on his own...unlike the baby. Good Luck!