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Yes! Give me one minute

I had 2u2 (my first was 14m when baby arrived) these are some of my tips I like to share - I had just managed to get my 1st in a routine & sleeping through the night and this helped so much - Showing 1st gentle with stuffed toys/dolls etc. - Safe play space (sectioned part of room off with a baby gate, there was a mellow mat and we had toy/book rotation everyday to avoid boredom). I’d feed baby in the play space with my 1st and while he was independent and liked playing on his own he’d often come over and pat babies head or show him toys, try talk to him so they could get used to each other and nobody felt left out. - I’d Spend time 1 on 1 with 1st and with both. And tried to get 1st involved around baby as much as possible. - baby backpack gift - they might be too young to understand what it’s about but basically you fill a backpack with some activities, toys, things your 1st likes, maybe some little snacks, I included a little note from baby and a little brothers photo album

Cont.. The general idea is so that your 1st doesn’t feel left out/overwhelmed/jealous with all the new things happening and attention that babies need/get. And it helps keep them occupied when you need to attend baby. - I also bulk prepped meals, easy reheat meals & snacks or things like slow cooker dump meals/lasagna/etc. I did this to cover at least the first two weeks. - meal prepping in general - created a month or so of meals to make after those 2wks so I didn’t have to deal with a newborn, my toddler and all the overwhelm and fog that comes with it - just took some extra pressure off instead of thinking on the day like wtf am I going to cook today? How am I going to find time etc.

And lastly: make sure you look after you, have easy hand held snacks esp if breastfeeding - I used to have granola/muesli bars or something similar and lots of water every where and anywhere I was going to be breastfeeding. Get rest when you can, and if you can give yourself 30-60mins a day to do something for yourself (whether it’s a shower or bath, reading a book, listening to a podcast whatever it is that you like!). I found it just helped to keep me a little sane. It is absolutely chaos at times, you’ll feel guilty about a lot. But watching them grow together, the bond they have is so amazing. My 2 will be 3 in April and 2 in June, they will also have a baby sister next month so interesting to see how that goes 🤣

@Sharnee Hi Thank you so Much for sharing your tips and going to write them down on my notepad so I can go over them. Sometimes I play with my 1st and teach her how to be gentle and still a work in progress

I don’t know what your ‘village’ is like, but having someone who can have your toddler for a few hours is an actual life saver x x