Are you expecting your second child? Will this baby be loved equally as the first? Most moms of more-than-one kids would tell you that your second baby is possibly, a game-changer. This means that baby number two is going to change your parenting game. This is because there are things you would most likely do differently as a second-time mom.
According to Mrs. Juliet Ibima, the first thing she did differently as a second time mom was to get over the ridiculous clothing. She said: “With my first baby, I had a collection of adorable little dresses and matching outfits, and hand-knit blankets. I washed everything in gentle, baby-friendly detergent and hung everything up in the nursery closet sorted by season and size. When we went out, I put on her, special outfits with matching bibs and booties.”
For the second child however, Mrs. Ibima folded and stuffed his clothes in the drawer. The fuss about matching outfits waned and she didn’t fuss about wearing him socks all the time.
With the second baby, Mrs. Ibima’s housekeeping standards changed. As a new mom to one infant way back, she managed to keep her house clean, stay on top of the laundry and organize toys like a robot. But with baby number two, days would go by before she cleaned the house, the laundry piles up all around her, and if she manages to mop the floors once a week, she would begin to praise herself. “With your second baby, any chance you can get to sit or lay down is a precious commodity.There will always be more plates, clothes, and organizing—but naps save your sanity, says Mrs. Ibima.”
When she gave birth to her second child, Mrs. Ibima slowed down on documenting every little milestone. She did that with her daughter with lots of photos and videos. For her second child however, she got his first picture taken after three months. “I didn’t do a baby book for my son, I’m not sure where or when he took his first step, and most of the photos of him as a newborn were taken by his 3-year-old sister with my phone.”
As a second time mom, Mrs. Ibima’s helicopter-mom tendencies eased up. She used to worry all the time about her firstborn. Was she eating, sleeping, and pooping enough? When her second baby showed up, she slowed down a little on worrying about things such as falls and falling sick.
Ibima researched everything non-stop as a new mom. With her second baby however, her confidence was sky-high. What she did differently the second time around was not stress too much.
“I checked to see if my first born was breathing every 20 minutes. I went crazy about my milk supply, whether she was gaining sufficient weight. The second time around, I realized that I could relax more since there was no longer that first-time mama fear.”