How to Make a Big Brother or Big Sister Book for the New Baby

A big brother or big sister book is a small picture book, made just for your child, that tells the story of the new baby coming home. It shows them what babies do, what will change, what will stay the same, and the important job they have now. Because it uses your family's real names and photos, it can feel more relevant to them than a store-bought book about someone else's baby.

Why make your own big sibling book?

There are lovely bookstore books about new babies. A homemade one adds something they cannot: your child's face on the cover, your house, your car seat, the grandparent who will come to stay. A young child does not have to translate the story onto their own life, because it already is their life.

It also gives you a calm, repeatable way to talk about the change. Instead of a big conversation, you read a few pages at bedtime, and your child asks questions when they are ready.

What to include in a book about becoming a big brother or sister

Keep it honest and simple. A good new baby book for siblings usually covers five things.

• What babies are really like. Babies sleep a lot, cry to tell us what they need, eat milk, and cannot play yet. Setting this expectation helps a child who is hoping for an instant playmate.
• What will change. Mom or Dad might be tired. The baby will need feeding at night. There may be a few days when Grandma picks them up from school.
• What stays the same. Their bed, their favorite toys, their bedtime song, and most of all, that they are loved just as much.
• Special big-sibling jobs. Fetching a diaper, choosing the baby's outfit, singing to the baby, showing the baby their toys. Real jobs, small enough to do.
• Feelings are OK. They might feel happy, proud, bored, or a little jealous. All of those are allowed, and there is always someone to tell.

Using family photos (and what to do before the baby arrives)

Photos do most of the work in this kind of book. Gather a few before you start:

• Your child's own baby photos, so they can see they were tiny once too.
• The people who will help: grandparents, a sitter, a neighbor.
• Places that matter: the hospital or birth center if you know it, the baby's crib, your child's own room.
• Your child doing their "jobs" with a doll or stuffed animal as a stand-in baby.

If the baby is not here yet, use an ultrasound image, a photo of the tiny clothes waiting in a drawer, or a drawing your child makes of what they think the baby will look like. After the birth, swap in a real photo of the baby and print a fresh copy. Our guide to turning kids' drawings into a book has tips for photographing art so it looks good on the page.

A page-by-page outline you can copy

Here is a simple outline for a 14-page big sibling book. Replace the names in brackets and cut any page that does not fit your family.

1. Cover: "[Name] Is a Big Sister" or "[Name] Is a Big Brother", with a proud photo of your child.
2. Meet the hero: "This is [Name]. [Name] is [age] and loves [favorite thing]."
3. The news: "Our family is growing. A new baby is coming to live with us."
4. You were a baby once: "When [Name] was a baby, [he/she/they] was very small too." Use their newborn photo.
5. What babies do: "Babies sleep, eat, cry and need lots of diaper changes. They cannot play yet, but they like to listen."
6. Where the baby will come from: "When it is time, [Mommy] will go to [the hospital]. [Grandma] will stay with [Name]."
7. Coming home: "Then the baby comes home. The baby will sleep in [the crib]."
8. What changes: "Sometimes the baby needs [Mommy or Daddy] right away, and [Name] might have to wait a little."
9. What stays the same: "[Name] still has [their bed, their bunny, our bedtime song]."
10. Big sibling jobs: "[Name] can fetch a diaper, pick a blanket and sing to the baby."
11. Just for me time: "[Name] and [Daddy] still go to [the park] together, just the two of them."
12. Big feelings: "Sometimes [Name] might feel happy. Sometimes [Name] might feel mad or sad. All feelings are OK. [Name] can always tell us."
13. The happy ending: "The baby watches [Name] and learns from [him/her/them]. [Name] is the baby's big [sister/brother]."
14. Last page: "We love you just as much as always. Maybe even more." Use a family photo.

Notice the shape: a hero, a change, some worries, and a warm ending. That is the same story spine we use for any personalized children's book, and it is why this outline fits the "A story about them" starter so well.

How to make it on makeabook.fun (step by step)

The maker is free, runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and needs no sign-up.

1. Open the starter. Go to "A story about them". It pre-fills pages with fill-in-the-blank prompts that follow the problem-then-happy-ending shape, with your child as the hero.
2. Pick a size. Square (8.5 × 8.5 in) suits a photo book. Tall, Wide and Big are also available.
3. Write the pages. Use the outline above. Add or remove pages until it feels like your family.
4. Add photos. Upload from your phone or computer, then drag to reposition and zoom so faces sit where you want them.
5. Let your child add art. They can draw the baby on the built-in drawing pad with a finger, mouse or stylus, or draw over a photo, like adding a crown to their own picture.
6. Choose layouts and a font. "Big picture with words on it" works well for the cover moment, and "picture with words below" for most pages. Andika, a font designed for children learning to read, is a good choice for early readers.
7. Finish the cover and dedication. Add a title and list your child as the author if they helped. The title page and dedication page fill themselves in, so you can dedicate it "To the best big sister."
8. Read it, then print. Flip through it in the reader together, then download the free print-at-home PDF.

When to read it

For most families, a few weeks before the due date is a good time to start. That gives your child time to hear it many times, which is how young children get comfortable with new ideas.

• Before the baby: read it at bedtime a few times a week. Let your child "read" it to you by telling you what happens on each page.
• While you are away: leave a copy with whoever is caring for your child, so the story stays the same while you are at the hospital.
• After the baby comes home: keep it out. The first weeks are often when jealousy and questions appear, and the book is a gentle way back to the "feelings are OK" page.
• Later: reading it to the baby can become one of your child's big-sibling jobs.

Printing a copy that survives little hands

The free PDF prints each page in full color, centered on US Letter or A4 paper with small corner trim marks. Card stock or heavier paper for the cover helps it last through a lot of rereading. Our guide on how to print a picture book at home covers paper, settings and binding.

If this book becomes a treasured one, the Keepsake edition ($2.99 once per book) gives you print-shop quality at the exact book size, with no makeabook.fun mark and a fold-and-staple booklet layout. You can re-download it free after edits, which helps when you add the baby's first real photo. You could even make a matching book for the baby later, and if you ever want to turn one into a paperback, our free 7-day guide walks through the steps.