ladies with two or more children close in age..

[pinkbelle]

Well I have a 3 month old daughter and I'm 5 weeks pregnant with my second.. how did you ladies do it? Dealing with two babies in diapers...  and how do you split your time between the two.. I don't want Aubree to loose any attention because of the new baby coming & I don't want the new baby to loose any attention either.. And also what were peoples reactions? I told my boyfriend and he is 100% supportive of us and our new child but its our families I'm worried about.. They were exactly thrilled when we announced we were pregnant with Aubree so I'm afraid of what they will say now that I'm pregnant with #2 soo soon

[catlady171]

there is a 2 year gap between my oldest and middle child and only a 1 year gap between my middle and youngest. when my youngest was born my oldest was still in training pants. so basically i had three in diapers still! but i found it wasnt that much more difficult. and as they get older it gets even easier. because they are all so close in age they seem to be closer also. they can all play with the same toys and games with little problem. plus as your baby now out grows things it will be the right timing for baby 2 to move on to them.

[babyscience]

Wow, it will be alot of work.  I have a friend that his sister is a year younger than him.  Actually 2 days less than a year.  His mom had a hard time and had a lot of help from the family...but then she went on to have 3 more kids, so it must have not have been too hard!!  Good luck, I am sure it will be just fine!  People who have twins deal with the same thing.

[BTS1022]

My oldest son and youngest son are almost exactly 2 years apart....My oldest was born Feb 19th 2004 and my youngest Feb 16th 2006. It wasn;t all that difficult to be honest. I included my oldest with everything, because the truth is, when a new baby comes home attention does tend to amount towards the baby since they are less self sufficiant. My oldest helped with diapers, baths, bedtime, feeding....everything. And it helped a lot. He wasn't jealous at all of the new baby, and now they are very very close. I found that including the older children any way you can helps tremendously. The diaper situation wasn't hard either, It actually helped potty train my oldest. I told him I needed him to be a big boy for mommy, so that mommy didnt have to work so hard, and so I could play with him more. I had him potty trained in 1 week, and he has yet to have an accident at all 2 years later, not even at night.

I plan on having the same ritual now that I am close to giving birth to #3. I plan to include both my boys with the new baby as much as they want. Also though, some children aren't as eager at first, so don't push them to do anything, give them their own time and they will eventually come around.

I also made sure that my boys were treated fairly. If I bought the baby something, even diapers or wipes or formula, I always bought the other child something...those 50 cent gumball machines will light up any frown lol. If I couldnt afford a new toy, I let my oldest pick out between cupcakes, brownies, and cookies....and we baked them together when we got home.

It also helps to take an extra hour getting the oldest one ready for bed, that way the baby can be situated and both mom and dad can spend the hour with the oldest reading or watching cartoons, or one parent can read a story while the other is with baby, and then switch it off, so each parent gets 30 min with the oldest child, and baby is still being cared for.

I also found that having baby on a slightly different schedule than the older child helpful. I always had the baby bathed, fed, and asleep during dinner time, and nap time. That way the oldest gets your attention for a little bit before he/she has to take a nap, and dinner can be an enjoyable relaxing occassion, instead of someone going hungry because baby needs to be fed or changed.

I can go on and on with suggestions lol, if you need any more advise please feel free to email me.

[sadiesmommy]

I have to hand it to you, I am worried about the small age gap between my children ( age 2.5 and newborn twins in Jan) and I am not sure how I will cope. You need to remember that you aren't giving Aubree any less attention because it will have been exactly what you did for her when she was just born - also don't forget she will be almost eight months older than she is now and quite a bit more independent! Plus that fact that she is still young as far as memories go - the best part is she won't ever remember a time without her sibling (that is what I am looking forward to also). I am a huge believer in that if things are meant to be, they just have a way of working out and as far as peoples reactions go the only ones that really matter are you and your boyfriends!! My sister got pregnant when her daughter was 3.5 months old but unfortunately did not make it to term and the baby died at 22 weeks. The people who matter to you most will be supportive and even if they are hesitant at first try not to forget they are looking at it from an entirely different presepective and maybe they are just feeling for you beacause they know how much more work it is going to be for you. This isn't the best response I know because I am not quite there yet as far as experience goes but my mom had three children under the age of four and my aunt and four children under the age of five and they did it and I have every confidence that you (and I) will make it!!! Hang in there and give the family some time to adjust to the news. Take lots of pictures and enjoy Aubree now and enjoy her and the new baby together when the time comes. Good luck