The Second Baby’s on Its Way – What’s the Firstborn Going to Say?
 
You’ve made up your mind and realised that it’s the right time to get the second baby.

Now you need to prepare yourself and the rest of your family for the arrival of this new little being.

You and your partner should start working at once on the preparatory actions. To be more precise, it would be great to organise most of the things several months in advance.
Apart from the nursery, the cot, and the clothes for the new baby, you have another important task: breaking down the news to your older child.

Here are some tactics that I used when I was preparing my son for the birth of my daughter.
 
 
 
 
1)   Reading family books together
 
You don’t have to be a psychologist to understand how important reading is for children’s cognitive development.
Watching mutually related images and listening to parents reading stories enhances the functions of different parts of the brain.
What’s more, your child will develop reading habits at an early age, which will bring them numerous benefits later.

 
 
 
One of the benefits of reading is the ability to present some important phenomena to your child in an indirect way.
For instance, you can read him or her stories about the arrival of a new baby. That way, your child will be able to connect the dots and realise what this rookie in the family will mean for him.
 
2)   Letting the partner take their role
 
Most marriages in the previous decades were based on the traditional roles of parents. Mothers oversaw children, especially when they were still babies or toddlers.
Nowadays, the situation is changing. More fathers want to take part in children’s daily activities, regardless of their age.
So, this is a nice opportunity for them to focus on the older child in the period before the birth of the new baby.
Of course, it would be perfect if they started spending more time with the firstborn at an earlier age. If so, the entire change that’s about to happen will cause less stress on the first child.
If your older kid is used to doing different activities with his or her father, the fact that you’ll have a new baby will be less painful.
Apart from intensifying the parenting role, your partner needs to do their share of chores, as well. This will become even more obvious in the first few weeks after birth. Since you’ll be focused on the new baby, it’s your partner who will need to take the plunge and keep the house in order.
Of course, you can always hire an extra cleaning hand, but most couples can’t do that too often.
For all these reasons, talk to your partner on time and let him or her take responsibility for the older kid and the house on time.
 
3)   Including the older child into preparations
 
Depending on the age of your older child, he or she can help you with all the preparations for the new baby.
For starters, you can include him or her in the room redecoration process. They can help you paint the walls, assemble the cot, and reorganise the toys. Your older son or daughter might find it interesting to rearrange some of the toys they used when they were babies or little toddlers.
Also, this is the first real situation in which your older child will have to share things with another child all the time. It’s going to be interesting to see how he or she is going to react to this new reality.
Moreover, the older kid can take an active role in shopping for the new baby. From diapers and bedding to some new toys and dummies, it’s highly likely that your firstborn will have a good time choosing these things.
 
 
When you put together the shopping list for the new baby, you can turn it into a game with the older kid. For instance, he or she can draw each of these items on a piece of paper. Also, you can let him or her cross them out as you’re buying them.
All these things will make your older kid feel important and proud of their participation in the entire process.
 
4)   Rearranging the usual routines
 
We all know that babies and toddlers have a strong connection with their mother.
So, if you neglect them when you give birth to the second baby, they will show you their dissatisfaction.
If you want to minimise the tantrums and stressful situations, make sure to rearrange the usual routines to free some time for your older kid.
In other words, you should establish some new habits with your older child prior to the arrival of the new baby.
As illustrated by the Norland nanny set of guidelines, children like the structure because it gives them the feeling of security.
So, your partner could start putting the older child to bed a few months before the new baby is born. That way, the firstborn will have enough time to get accustomed to this new routine.
What you can do is introduce some new activities with the older kid. For example, you could start going to the playground together on Saturday morning. When the second baby is born, you can continue this routine because the partner can look after the newborn at those times.
 
Conclusion
 
Getting the second baby is an exciting moment for every family, especially if they already have one child.
Among all other preparations, it’s extremely important to explain how the arrival of the new kid will affect his or her life.
From reading appropriate books with your older child to including him or his in all these actions, you can help them accept the change.
Also, make sure not to neglect the firstborn when the new baby comes from the hospital.
All these little hacks will help the entire family welcome your new member with pleasure and joy.
 
 
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Author Bio: Anne Harris is an HR specialist working for londongoverness.com. She recruits nannies, governesses and other childcare professionals, ensuring top-notch services for parents worldwide. In her free time she likes reading about education, and children’s welfare, as well as visiting sports events.