How to prepare for your second child.I don’t think that there is anything you can do to prepare yourself for second child; but there are quite a few things you can do to make it easier for your first born.
BOOKS
As soon as your bump becomes visible start reading your child stories about “baby in mummy’s tommy” and them becoming big sister/brother .My favourite books were :
And “Princess Poly I am new big sister”.
. When/if you find out what you are having you can start reading books about them getting baby sister / brother. This will help them to understand what is happening and what is to come.
GET THEM INVOLVE
It’s very important that you get them involved in baby related things. We got Chloe involved in preparing for the new arrival:
– helping to fold baby clothes (or shall I say unfold? 😂) which she loved, she would pick up every single garment and say: mummy look it’s so small !
– taking her to midwife appointments to check that “baby is ok”.
– help decorate her sisters nursery (choosing where to put toys, what photos to put in to frames)
– going shopping to buy things for the baby and asking for her help with it.
PRESENT FROM THE BABY
What makes the inconvenience of the arrival of the sibling more bearable is a nice present. Your Firstborn is more likely to “like” someone who gave him present (especially when it is something that they really wanted).
VISITING RULES
Make sure that your guest give your child as much attention as they will give to the baby. It is a very good idea to get your toddler to show quests where the baby is and ask him questions about the baby. It will make them feel very important.
LITTLE HELPER
Get your toddler to help with the baby. Getting involved in everyday tasks will stop your toddler feeling excluded. Giving nappy and wipes, bringing blanket etc all of those little things will make them feel as a very important big sister/brother.
UNDIVIDED ATTENTION
The hardest thing for your child to deal with will be lack of attention. They live gets thrown up side down; one day they are the only person who gets your attention the next day there is someone who gets much more of your attention than they do. Make sure that each day you do spend quality time with your toddler. Put aside an hour a day when your baby is sleeping when you can have lots of fun with your toddler; it will be hard when you are sleep deprived but it will make a huge difference to your child.
NEW ROUTINE
You won’t be able to follow all of your old routines of bathing, feeding, reading stories, tucking in to bed. Make sure that you make new ones which involve the baby and work with having two kids. My husband does Chloe’s batch time and bed time routine but I make sure to take Skylar to Chloe’s room for her bed time story. This now has become our new family routine and Chloe loves it.
Those things has worked for us. Chloe has adapted very quickly to the new family dynamics and is in love with her baby sister .
NEW YUMMY MUMMY 