The Big Sibling Book: Baby's First Year According to ME Hardcover-spiral – October 20, 2009

Over all, I like it.Some things do not make much sense for my child because this is not her first sibling. This is just her first sibling that she has been old enough to answer questions about. A lot of the questions are really for someone who is becoming a big sister/brother for the first time. It still works, but I was a bit bummed by that. There is only one little section of the whole book that I have found that mentions other siblings & it only asks their names. There is a whole page devoted to "people I know who have siblings" or something like that, so I felt like they could have had at least one page for her existing siblings.A big section of the book is made up of essentially blank pages for drawing and coloring, but my kid likes this b/c she can decide what to put in it herself. Some people might feel like this is filler, though, as they don't all have prompts.I also noticed after reading another review that this book has a lot of facial expression stickers, but all of them are white. It would have been nice to see a variety of skin tones to be more inclusive. HOWEVER, the stickers are paper (not glossy), so you could definitely color them in with the appropriate skin tones! My daughter colored the lips pink on hers, for example. Maybe the author intended for them to be like coloring pages for that purpose?

This is a really simple and cute way to document an older sibling's reactions to their soon to be new little brother or sister.The majority of the book focuses only on the sibling and "Mommy's belly" so if you are a single parent or same-sex parent, the book is plenty generic. In addition, there are a few pages to document after the baby is born and then a bunch of blank pages for drawings or attaching pictures. Probably about 1/4 of the book is blank so that you can use them as you choose.If you have multiple older siblings, this book is not geared in that direction. You will have to have siblings choose a page and identify somehow who is completing each page.My son is 8 and will be able to easily complete the self-documented portions. That said, you may have to do the reading and writing for the portions that are "self-documented" if siblings are very young, however there are sticker completed sections and drawing sections as well. All said, it is very diverse for all ages and abilities.I highly encourage writing or having your child document exactly as they react to questions. It will be so much more refective of their age and personality down the road, so don't get hung up on having it looking perfect or on perfect spelling and grammar. Some of the questions my son answered were vague so I asked a bit more for detail and documented in the corner of the page to clarify his thoughts.

Was hesitant about this purchase cause of some of the reviews and I also was thinking of getting the same book as we got for our daughter, for our son. But it is so cute and our daughter LOVES it.

I really like this book, I think it's an adorable keepsake for the baby & bonding book for two siblings. There are a couple things I wanted to mention however. My perspective is that if you're looking to make it a book where the child is going to be a new big sibling & help with the adjustment then you wouldn't want the older sibling to be much younger than 4 (maybe 3 depending on the child). The child I will use it with is currently 4 & that's why I use that age over 3. I say that due to the involvement & interaction that the child has in the book, much younger and the parents might be answering all the questions & writing all the details which, to me, isn't as nice as having the child do it. So, to me, the 4-6 range is better for this book (they list as 2-6). I have a 2 year old who should be the one that needs help with the adjustment & who I would love to have use this book as she will now be a new big sister but even as far along as she is with her understanding and conversation I can't see her being able to complete most of what is involved in the book. So I can't see it as being an "adjust to being a new big brother/sister" book (as most people may not wait till their child is 3/4 yrs. to have another child) as I would a bonding/keepsake book between two of your children.

I spent a good couple of hours looking around for a good baby book, but most seem to have a lot of pages of stuff that I just wouldn't care to fill out. I know there's gotta be the perfect baby book out there for me somewhere, I'm still gonna keep looking for one for ME to fill out. This one from the big siblings perspective is pretty awesome, though, so I guess the new baby gets to have two baby books! My 5 year old is really enjoying getting to fill this out "all by herself," and I love that she can already get started on a big portion of it even though I'm still pregnant. It's a great way to help her feel involved and get prepared for and excited about the new reality we are in for.

I got this for my 9 year old boy, and somewhat expected it to be too "young" for him. We were able to modify it in places where it seemed a bit babyish, but mostly it was good for him. He liked being able to put in pictures and gave him an opportunity to talk about what was going on.HOWEVER, I got it for him due to us being a new blended family......This is where the book falls short. There's really no room for adding another person who is in the child's family but might not be called "mom" or "dad". I think it made him a little self conscious of the situation but he's pretty laid back so we just did the best we could with those pages.All together the quality is great - spiral bound hard cover. And the pages are engaging, colorful, and interesting. Lots of stickers too.Note for natural minded: Breastfeeding not normalized (all references are bottles), and only doctor mentioned (not midwife).

A lot of this relates to things to discuss with the sibling during the pregnancy, in anticipation of the birth (eg 'here's a picture of the sonogram' etc), which we simply hadn't done. I purchased the book immediately prior to the birth thinking it would focus on the first year of life, so we came to it too late to make best use of it. Luckily the return process was quick and simple!

This is a unique product that is ideal if, like me, you are expecting a new baby and your first child is a little older. My 5 year old is absolutely loving filling it in and there are lots of thoughtful questions and tips in there too. It will be a wonderful keepsake.

I received this in the post yesterday for my 6 year old daughter who is finding the whole baby news a bit worrying and I'm so glad I've come across it. Every page is interactive and they get to fill in information about them and about what they think. My diaughter has been so anxious and negative but since seeing this book she has brightened up and loves the fact she can fill in the details and tick off what she can do as a big sibling, it makes her feel important! She cannot wait to start filling it in this weekend. I love the fact its in stages too, before the baby is here and after. The book is almost for the older sibling to teach the younger sibling about their family. FULLY RECOMMEND!

Brilliant idea - ideally buy before new Sibling arrives. My Granddaughter who is almost 3 loves this, obviously we need to help her - but it’s her thoughts and opinions.... will be a great keepsake for both Grandchildren to look back at.

Bought for my second child and subsequently our third which is on the way. My kids have loved this boom and it’s so easy to do. I tried many different books with my first child but this is the only one I finished. Highly recommended