When to Tell Kids About Pregnancy

My advice - tell the kids when you are ready for EVERYONE else to know. Little kids have big mouths and they will not keep it a secret.

Congrats!!!

I would wait as long as possible - not only because of miscarriage but because any amount of time to young kids will seem like an eternity!! And I know for me, my son would keep asking is the baby coming tomorrow?? No, we have a couple months to wait. But definitely after the first trimester would be a good time to tell them.

I remember telling my little boy that he was going to be a big brother!! He was thrilled!! Wonderful memories!! And what a protective big brother he has become!!

Good luck!!!

How did your husband take the news??? I have been meaning to ask you!!!

I would wait until I was about 14 to 16 weeks. It will still be a long 5 months for them...waiting with anticipation...

Please don't stress over the possibility of a miscarriage...enjoy this pregnancy!!

I have shared the news at 12 weeks. Like you, I just don't want to tell them too early. Even though, with this last baby, my 2nd kid , said he could already tell I was pregnant.

This is your 4th , right? I'm pregnant with my 4th & this was the pregnancy, I was most concerned about miscarriage, also.

I personally would wait as long as possible, maybe 16+ weeks. I had to explain the loss of my 4th pregnancy to my then 6 and 4 year old kids (my 2yo was blissfully unaware). It was not easy, they were very sad and had lots of unanswerable questions, but in the end they did fine and still talk about their "baby brother that died" sometimes (they are 10 and 8 now). We did not tell them about the next pregnancy ever, because we lost that one too. I was glad to have spared them the sad reality of that loss. Then with my last pregnancy we waited until at least 16 weeks to be as safe as possible. by then I was really starting to show so there was no hiding it anymore.
And as another poster mentioned, shortening their wait for delivery is always helpful too. I know it is hard not to include them in this excitement right away but I do think it is the best way to go with young kids for the "just in case." I wish you the best for a healthy, happy pregnancy.

I'm gonna go against the grain here. If you do have a miscarrige and the kids don't know, how are you going to explain to them your (assuming) overwhelming sadness? I told my kids as soon as we knew both times (around 6 weeks). For me, I never wanted to have to explain there was a baby AND a miscarriage at the same time (this went for family and very close friends too). I've always believed the earlier you start talking about it the more prepared they'll be. There are some great resources out there for sharing how it's going to be, I start early and we talk about it often. At 25 weeks with #3, both my girls (4 1/2 and 2 1/2) know there's a baby in my tummy, they've felt it moving, they've seen pictures of how babies grow and know how it's going to come out. These are all very advanced concepts that take loads of time, pondering and open conversation to fully grasp.

If you don't struggle with pregnancy nausea, I'd say try to wait. At least until that confirmed fetal poll, which happens around week 8. However most miscarriages happen during week 8 and 9.

My first born knew about two of my pregnancies that ended in miscarriage. She was age 2 and 4. The one at 4 effected her somewhat and a year later she still talks about "baby Ally" which is the name she gave it. However, my friends who had a 6 and 7 year old say that her miscarriage deaply affected the older children. So they did all they could to wait until second trimester.

I told my now 5 year old about my current pregnancy. I am one of those woman who had three miscarriages. So I was trepedacious about telling her, but for me, since I get very sick, I cannot hide it. I just can't. Even my two- year- old walks around saying "i'm going to puke, I"m going to puke," because she sees me puking all the time. She rushes to my side to flush the toilet for me. I need my little gilrs to know why mama isn't her normal self, so I went ahead and told them near 8 weeks. I just warned my 5 year olds that it is really common for babies in the belly to die, and not to get her her hopes up. In the car at the Dr.s office building she said, "mom are we going to see if the baby in the belly died?" Sounds so morbid, but she accepted that that can happen really well.

Congrats! My kids found out when I went to the midwife at 11 weeks. I had enough morning sick to believe the pregnancy was sticking ;-)

Congrats!
I would wait until after the first trimester, when the occurrence of m/c goes WAY down--just to be on the safe side.

I would wait until after the fist trimester. 9 months seems like an eternity to children of these ages, so no real rush to tell them now vs. 5-6 weeks from now when you can be more certain that things are going well. Good luck and congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would wait until at least 12 weeks. I didn't tell my kids about my 4th pregnancy and wasn't planning to until 12 weeks even though I started showing right away. I'm glad we chose to not tell them because I had a miscarriage at 9 weeks. It was hard to hide the sadness from them, but we did it to protect them. The 3 yr old would have been oblivious, but the older two (10 & 7) would have been very upset. They have been asking us to have a 4th for a long time. They would have wanted us to try again and I don't think it's in the cards. So, waiting to tell is always good :)

I told my son before anyone. He went to my first appointment when I was 6 1/2 weeks as well.

Not before 12 weeks and that would be the earliest.

Updated

Not before 12 weeks and that would be the earliest.

I told my kids ages 5 & 3 when I was pregnant after 10 weeks when I had my first ultra sound and everything looked good.

13 weeks I told mine

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13 weeks I told mine

I let everyone know I was expecting when it was confirmed & as I carried on during pregnancy.My children included I never waited till the trimester to end to wait and see if I would miscarry.I worried about it but it wasn't going to stop me from not telling they would be there in thought & prayer either way.

Mine (who were 14 and 6 at the time) knew right away, but i get so sick i couldn't hide it. But my 6 year was so into the pregnancy....we sat down weekly with the "what to expect when you are expecting" book and read that weeks developments. It also told us how big the baby was in terms of fruit, so every week we would go to the store and buy that fruit (sounds morbid haha). It was fun!! Im not sure if your 6 yr old is a boy or girl or if a boy would be into it or not....i have only girls haha.

They were both in the delivery room, not on purpose but it's how it turned out haha. They didn't "watch" but were glad to be there as soon as she was born.