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Talking about pregnancy and birth

A pregnancy in the family – or when an important person in your child’s life like their teacher is pregnant – can be a time when there are many questions and opportunities for talking and learning together. In the section of The Chat called Questions Children and Young People Ask you will find some suggestions as to how to answer these questions:

In this Talking About topic, we go beyond those initial answers to these questions, to think about the conversations we can have that help our child understand more about the importance of pregnancy for mother and child, and about how a baby is born. There are other Talking About topics for 6, 7 and 8 year-olds that you might be interested in: How Human Life Begins and Looking After a Baby.

Talking about pregnancy and being born

When you talk about pregnancy you can share the main points as follows. We have provided some pictures here to go with the words you can use.You can go back to the pictures and text again and tell the story of pregnancy and being born. As always, there are book suggestions later.

A baby lives and grows inside the woman's womb for 9 months
In the womb, the baby and woman are connected by the umbilical cord that attaches to the baby and to the mum. The baby gets everything it needs to grow through the cord.
For the baby, the womb is like a bag of warm cosy water and the baby can hear the mum's heartbeat like a drum.
When a woman is pregnant she will go to see the midwife or doctor to make sure everything is going well with her pregnancy.
In the first 3 months inside the woman's womb the baby is very small.
In the next 3 months inside the woman's womb the baby keeps growing.
In the final 3 months inside the womb, the baby keeps growing so much that it needs to be curled up.
How a baby is born. After 9 months of being safe and cosy inside the womb it is time for the baby to be born.
The woman feels some pains in her tummy, and she feels the need to push down so that the baby can come out.
The baby comes down from the womb and it comes out of the woman's vagina. This takes a few hours to happen.
The woman will be very tired after all this effort and the baby will cry as it leaves the cost womb and enters the world.
Remember that the baby feeds through the umbilical cord? Well, this is cut (it's not sore) and then the baby is separate from the mum.
Some babies are born in hospital. Some babies are born at home.

Books

You might like to read these books together. Your library might have them, or you can ask them if they will order a book for you.

9 Months: A month-by-month guide to pregnancy for the family to share

Courtney Adamo
ISBN 978-1847808172

This book follows a pregnancy. A fun and informative way to prepare your child for the arrival of their new baby brother or sister.

Let’s Talk About Where Babies Come From: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families

Robie H. Harris
ISBN 978-1406357868

This information book about sex and reproduction covers all the main areas: babies, reproduction, bodies, chromosomes, genes, growing up, love, health and lots more. The information is imparted simply with humorous commentary from an inquisitive bird and a squeamish bee and full-colour cartoon-strip illustrations.

It’s Not the Stork! A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends 

Robbie Harris
ISBN 9780763633318

Helps answer questions children ask about how they began. 

The Science of Babies: A Little Book for Big Questions About Bodies, Birth and Families

Deborah Roffman
ISBN 978-0995340015

Recommended for the younger child/5- 6-year-olds: Answers questions like: Where did I come from? How did I get out of there? How did I get in there in the first place? For young children, these are simply questions about science.