Introduction: Of all the children in the world as many as 80% of them have at least one sibling. Firstborns predominantly get a sibling in the first six years of their lives. The birth of a newborn is a significant event for the whole family, even the siblings. Latter can respond to the news of the arrival of a new baby in a positive or negative way. The response itself, depends on different factors: the child’s gender, age, developmental phase, position in the family (i.e., birth order) and personality. The preparation of the older child plays a key role for the encouragement of their positive response to the newborn and the relationship between them. Keeping the routine that the child is used to in place is also important. It is already hard enough for them to share the attention of parents and loved ones with a new person. Purpose: In this paper we wish to research how the preparation, gender, age and position in the family influence the response of the child to the birth of a new baby, and to find the best method for the preparation of older siblings for the role of a new born. Methods: In the first part of the research we used the qualitative method of analysing the scientific writings found in different databases: PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar and COBISS. The search was carried out in Slovenian and English language. In the second part, we used the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews. We conducted twelve interviews with parents of two or more children. Results: We found that parents tackle the preparation of siblings in different manners - with the help of picture books, dolls and talks, they sometimes also include children into the set-up of the nursery. Some let the children visit them in the hospitalisation period, some do not. We found that the response of the sibling is significantly influenced by the age, the position in the family, and the gender of the child as well as the newborn. Discussion and conclusion: We found that it is best for the child to learn about the pregnancy from their parents at the end of the first trimester. The preparation is highly important. Not implementing big changes in the time of birth or right after is also of great value. Inversely, negative feelings can awake in the older child. Jealousy and unfavourable behaviour are most common with the children whose younger sibling is of the opposite gender, with first-borns and with those who are aged two to four years in the time of birth of the newborn.
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