New baby

No advice as I only have one but as someone who works in a school reception class I can assure you the gender will not make a difference at this age they won’t be able to differentiate between their genders. My brother is 7 years older than me and we had a great relationship I loved playing games with him that were typically more boyish and he would also play with my toys that are typically more girly x

Aww thank you

Some of this is for your first before and when baby arrives & some are for you: - 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, repeating and showing him gentle if he got a bit rough - Safe play space: I 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 - a gift from baby to older sibling - basically you fill a backpack with some activities, toys, things your 1st likes, maybe some little snacks. I also included a note from baby & a photo album

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 meant that I could spend more time with my 2

- utilised supermarket delivery services - after the meal plan, I used supermarket delivery services, set up a weekly shopping list for the meals I was going to be making (I created a different list for each of the weeks I prepped for so when it came time it was a matter of finding the shopping list on the app and checking out) - Rely on whatever supports you need: nursery, family, friends, go to play groups or library rhyme time, go for walks when you feel up for it. - 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.

Wow this is super super helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this ❤️