Mums reveal the heartache of having siblings who don't get on

"I thought it was like, OK, a couple months, she's just warming up to it. She would get so jealous when I would breastfeed and all that kind of stuff. And now, the phase isn't going away."

And we have to say, her comment really opened the floodgates for our mums. We noticed lots of you saying you were going through exactly the same thing...

"Mine...hate each other"

"I'm so glad that I've just seen this post as I felt like I was going insane, my 11 year old and 5 year old literally hate each other," says Collette S.

"They fight constantly and can't even be in the same room without arguing. It really upsets me so much!"

"It's a nightmare"

Beverley B has a similar story: "I have a 3-year-old son and a 1-year-old son. Both are as jealous as the other.

"It's a nightmare. I can't hug one without the other having a fake crying session..."

"I'm hoping it will get better"

And Amanda A tells us this: "I have a 3-year-old boy and a 7-month-old boy and the older one doesn't like his younger brother.

"Just ignores him a lot and hates if he even looks at him or touches him. I'm hoping he will get better as he gets older as the younger brother just watches him and laughs all the time ?"

"They don't get on at all"

And finally this, from Nicola J: "My 6 year old daughter fights with her 4 year old brother from the second she wakes up. It's so hard that they don't get on at all. ☹️"

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Now, just to be clear, we promise we didn't write this article just to sound all doom and gloom about siblings.

It's simply that the topic seriously struck a chord with a number of you, and it doesn't seem to be something that's talked about much.

It can get better

On the positive side, a few of you did share stories of brothers and sisters who didn't get on once, but had learned to love each other with time.

"My brother and I are only a year and a half apart and I hated him for ages 'cos I was jealous and we fought all the time," Nadi C tells us.

"But when I was 12 my parents sat me down and told me he's all I have and one day they won't be around anymore and we should have each other's back and that was it.

"Something clicked and I told him sorry for being a d**k and we've been best friends ever since."

"There's 2 years between me and my brother and we fought all the time growing up but we are now 29 & 31 and we get on fine now," says Leanne B, who reckons time can be a healer.

"We seemed to just reach an age where we started to get along."

Tips when a new baby arrives

Some of you reckon the key to helping your little ones get along is to make a bit of a fuss of your older child(ren) when you have a new baby: a classic way to do it is by giving them a gift from their new brother or sister.

"I have a 4 year old and a 4 month old. When I made my hospital bag I bought a big Captain America doll, and in the hospital when my oldest came to visit he found it under the baby's blanket as her present to him," Bridget B tells us.

"I don't know if it helped, but he's never jealous and he love he's lil sis for bits. I got that hospital bag toy hint from a friend."

Sinead L had a similar tactic: "[My oldest] doesn't pay much attention to her young sister, she will sometimes look in at her and say aww so cute and will pass bottles and her cuddly teddy but that's about it ?

"We got her a doll from the new baby and she bought a little hanging fox for the baby's pram

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What's your story?

Do your little ones get along as well as you'd hoped? Tell us in the comments below or over on Facebook

Read more:

• Do you dress your twins or siblings the same?
• Is there a 'perfect gap' between children?
• Researchers say middle children are more likely to bully their siblings