Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative: And baby makes four ... or more ..

Saturday, February 5, 2011

And baby makes four ... or more ..

Hi, My name is Sharni and I run Nappy Shoppe Cloth Diaper store. I am the mother for 4 children, the oldest is 23 and the youngest is 2.

So you have brought home a brand new baby, and big brother or sister is not super thrilled to have to share your attention with this new baby brother or sister. They were so excited to be getting a baby brother or sister, but all it does is eat, sleep, cry and poop. It doesn't sit up and play. It just takes all of mum and dads attention.

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While I have never had a toddler when I had a newborn, I did have a very jealous 9 year old when my second came along. I was also a nearly three year old when my first brother came along and boy was my nose out of joint. He arrived on the 9th of December, and apparently I was not very nice to this new baby. So my mother was smart. She went and got me a baby doll, complete with bath and accessories. It was my Christmas gift that year. I actually do have memories of that Christmas morning, just before I turned three (my birthday is December 28th). I remember coming out to the living room and up against the wall in a big pink box with a clear plastic top was this beautiful baby dressed in pink.

From then on, when mum bathed my baby brother, I bathed my dolly. When mum changed my baby brother, I changed my brother. There was a lot less hitting from big sister, because big sister had her own baby to care for while mummy was busy.

When I was pregnant with my third child, my daughter who was then nearly 14, gave her then nearly 5 year old younger brother a bunny to care for. She helped him diaper and dress the "baby". She used the toy bunny as a tool to help him prepare for the new baby brother that would soon arrive.

A mother was in recently with her newborn, and she had visited me several times while pregnant with her one and a half year old. A very sweet little boy. When she came in with the newborn, she came without little Knox, and I asked her how was Knox doing with his baby brother. She said, Knox was rather jealous of the new baby. My suggestion a baby doll. Don't worry about if Dad thinks boys don't play with dolls. But baby dolls can help both sexes just fine. Giving them something to care for while you care for the baby can help the older sibling feel useful. It doesn't have to be a doll, it can be a stuffed animal. Just something that is something special for them to care for.

I have stocked toys for quite some time now, but after the visit from Knox's mother I decided that we should add baby dolls and accessories to our line up. We have a lot of older siblings come in with their mums to the store, so why not help them kit out their "babies" too. We also make cloth diapers to fit the dolls we stock.

So here are some of the items we are stocking at the store for the older sibling:

Annie is a 12 inch doll complete with a cloth diaper, pacifier, bottle and potty. Having a potty makes her a great tool for potty training too.

Baby doll diapers, made by the sewing crew at Nappy Shoppe. We make the diapers from the left over fabric from making Otter Puddle trainers. They close with hook and loop so little fingers can easily close them. (We did test out a snap version on my two year old, but he had trouble doing the snaps up, but he was able to do up hook and loop just fine).