Top 4 Tips To Prepare for Your Second Baby

To calmly cope with the situation of having a second baby, it would be a good idea to keep in mind the following top tips:

 

1. Relearn and Learn. Depending on how long ago your last pregnancy was, or the intensity of the anesthesia used on you on your previous delivery, it may be worthwhile to go through another labor and delivery class. A refresher course will help you brush up on your existing pregnancy knowledge and give you new information on the latest techniques, procedures, and birthing technology.

 

2. Include Daddy. It is back to the drawing boards with the hubby. Discuss with second-time-around Daddy what did and didn’t work your first time on the batting plate as parents. Reiterate that his help is needed more than ever. Specify and classify the role that you want him to perform, so as not to overburden yourself with the greater responsibility of caring for two children. Parenting is a shared task, after all.

 

Click here to read more tips to help prepare you for a second baby.

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Here are more tips to help prepare you for a second baby.

 

3. Stay calm and focused. Release yourself from guilt and unrealistic standards. We may all aspire to be supermoms, but we must also accept the fact that we are, first and foremost, human. Learn to accept life’s—and your own—imperfections. Your sense of order will now have a new meaning. Chaos is not always disastrous; toys are now your newest household furnishing. A little dirt won’t hurt—smudges and handprints are simply intricate patterns of design. Remember, pretty soon everything will be multiplied by two.

 

4. Prepare your first born. These predilections notwithstanding, there are pressing concerns that need to be addressed to make way for an easy transition. “A common problem with parents who are having their second child, is that the first child is often ill-prepared for the coming of the newborn,” relates school teacher Almario. “Sometimes, parents are naïve when it comes to processing this big, big change in their family’s life with their firstborn.” It’s very important to prepare your firstborn properly.

 

Some Drawbacks To Look Out For in Your Firstborn: Fear, Insecurity

There are a number of parents who say that it was harder to transition from having just one child to two compared to the change from having no child to having one. Much of the difficulty stems from preparing the first child and preventing him or her from having feelings of distrust and jealousy. “When the new baby comes, the first child initially feels excited. Unfortunately, this is often replaced by a sense of apprehension, if they feel that they are being replaced in their parents’ lives,” Ani Rosa Almario, school director of Raya School, recounts. “There is also a certain fear of the unknown and at times a small amount of insecurity: ‘How will life change with the baby? Is the new baby better than me? Will the baby get more attention?’ All these questions have an impact on your firstborn’s well-being,” says Almario.

 

Source:

Ani Rosa Almario, school director, Raya School

 

Photo from sxc.hu