Siblinghood, Transitions to

Qualitative Changes in Mother-Firstborn Interactions

Mother-firstborn interaction after the birth of a sibling appears to undergo qualitative changes as well. Researchers have found that interactions between firstborns and their mothers change in a variety of ways after the birth of a sibling, particularly when the mother is occupied with the new baby. Although mothers typically do not ignore or neglect their older children when caring for their infants, there are likely to be more instances of confrontation and a greater frequency of episodes of control after the birth of a sibling, particularly when mothers are feeding, providing care to, or interacting with the baby. This suggests that when mothers are preoccupied with caring for newborns, there often tends to be a decline in the attention they give to their firstborns, and perhaps also in the affective quality of their parenting (Teti, 1992).

Older children may evidence strong negative reactions to the birth of a sibling. For example, research has found that boys tend to exhibit more behavioral problems after the birth of a sibling than do girls, engaging in more acts of deliberate naughtiness when mothers feed their newborns, withdrawing from the mother, and showing more frustration/aggression and proximity maintenance (Dunn et al., 1981; Nadelman & Begun, 1982). Furthermore, when siblings are the same sex, mothers have reported more behavioral problems with their firstborn children than when sibling pairs are of mixed gender (Stewart, Mobley, Van Tuyl, & Salvador, 1987). Whether this is the result of postbirth fatigue or stressors impinging on the mother, increases in firstborn antagonism, or a combination of both is unclear.

...