Top Tips From Busy Mums For Life With A Newborn And A Toddler
We all know that mums are some of the busiest people out there. But, when it comes to the busiest of busy mums, those who have a newborn and a toddler certainly take the crown! If you think that life with a newborn baby is extremely hectic, just wait until it becomes a toddler and you are welcoming your second child into the world. You will have never experienced such a chaotic life! But, you don’t have to live in such a frenzy while your children are just a newborns and toddlers. I spoke to a few of my friends who have to juggle life with a toddler and newborn for some of their top tips to help you stay sane! Here is what they said.
Prepare Your Toddler
It is crucial that you start to prepare for life with two very young children before the newborn arrives. To do this, you will no doubt be busy buying lots of baby things, but you should also spend a considerable amount of time speaking to your toddler and letting them know about the big change that is about to happen in your family. Don’t worry about your child being too young to understand everything – you may be surprised to see exactly how much he does understand! One great idea is to tell him lots of stories that involve siblings loving each other and working together. You might even like to tell him some stories from your own childhood if you grew up with siblings!
Two Rooms Are Best
If your toddler still has trouble sleeping at night, you might be worried that the arrival of a newborn could make your nights significantly worse! After all, your newborn baby will often often through the night, and you might have to wake frequently to feed him or her. All of this disturbance through the night could be enough to wake your toddler. To try and minimize all this disturbance, it is a good idea to split the newborn and toddler and give them separate bedrooms. If your toddler is currently still in the nursery, it is a good idea to decorate a new bedroom for them now so that they get used to it before the baby arrives. You can take a look online to see the kinds of decor, luxury kids beds, and other items of furniture that you might want to put in the new bedroom. Get this all ready now, as you won’t have any spare time once the baby arrives!
Work On Sleeping Patterns
At first, your baby and toddler will be on completely different sleep schedules. This can be a nightmare for parents who used to nap while their toddler was taking a nap – this won’t be possible anymore! For this reason, you need to try and work on changing each child’s sleep pattern so that they become as similar as possible. One way to do this is to organize your days so that you plan for every feeding time, activity and nap. If you manage to stick to all these times, you will find that your toddler and baby eventually fall into the same routine.
Remember One-On-One Time
Before your newborn came along, your toddler would have taken up all your attention. But now he or she has to share you and your partner with the baby. Quite a few toddlers display signs of jealousy because of this. It is, therefore, very important that you schedule in some one-on-one time with just you and your toddler. Make sure your partner has some time together with him or her as well. This way, your child won’t feel like you are dedicating all your time to their new sibling. Newborns certainly take up a lot of parents’ time, so it is important that you plan especially for your toddler so that they don’t feel like you have forgotten about them.
Let Your Toddler Help You
Your toddler will be very curious about their new sibling at first! They will have lots of questions, and the best way to answer them is to help your child experience the newborn for themselves. So let them help you with feeding, changing diapers, and other tasks. As your toddler is still very young, they won’t be able to help you out hugely, but just asking them to pass you things will make them feel like they are doing something useful and helping you out.
Life with a toddler and baby isn’t easy, but you will definitely find it very rewarding!
