4 yo Pretends All Her Dolls and Animals Are Having Babies

[Unregistered]

My 4yo daughter is very interested in the idea of Moms having babies in their bellies and often pretends with her dolls and animals that they are having babies. Is this normal behavior?

[Heidi]

Absolutely!

Answer questions in simple terms she'll understand, but don't or make it a big deal.

Here is a good article that might help:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-talk-to-your-preschooler-about-how-babies-are-made_10309539.bc

You can also try channeling that interest in things like how we take care of babies. What do babies need?

[kendallina]

Absolutely!

Answer questions in simple terms she'll understand, but don't or make it a big deal.

Here is a good article that might help:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-talk-to-your-preschooler-about-how-babies-are-made_10309539.bc

You can also try channeling that interest in things like how we take care of babies. What do babies need?

Yup. Totally normal. I once had a group of 4 year old girls who were pretending to birth babies themselves. They even knew where they came from and one of the girls (who witnessed her baby brother's birth) even knew the breathing and sounds that the mom would make during delivery...eek! That was not as normal.

[Controlled Chaos]

My dd (4) and her buddy dcb (4) both pretending to birth babies for several months after their younger siblings were born. I did a homebirth, dd wasn't there for it, but in case mil couldn't pick her up soon enough we had talked with her a lot about what her and her brother's births looked like so she wouldn't be minimally traumatized,. We couldn't have a bath time without a water birth for some time ::

[AmyKidsCo]

Yup! My kiddos have all had puppies in their bellies for weeks now.

[mim]

Yup! My kiddos have all had puppies in their bellies for weeks now.

Mine too!
When my ds was 2yrs he would nurse his Donald Duck stuffed animal because that's what I did with baby brother. ::

[Thriftylady]

Yes normal. The less of a big deal you make of it, the sooner it will pass. Kids that age seem to want to be just like mom and dad and if a baby is involved, they want to copy that also. Just treat it like no big deal, a normal thing (and it is after all!) and it will soon pass.

[mamamanda]

Mine too!
When my ds was 2yrs he would nurse his Donald Duck stuffed animal because that's what I did with baby brother. ::

Haha My 3 year old ds was doing this recently. He had a stuffed turtle on one side and a stuffed chameleon on the other rocking in a chair while"nursing." And 2 of my dcgs carried rubber dinosaurs around in their shirts while I was pregnant. They were having babies too