What I’m Doing Differently for Baby #2

And What I’d Recommend for Other Mamas

There were so many things that surprised me with my first child. It seems like no matter how thoroughly you prepare there are always things to learn. Every child is different but here’s what I’m doing differently for baby #2

Supportive Pediatrician

I cannot stress enough how much of a difference it makes to have a pediatrician that supports your parenting goals.

The pediatrician we had with our son was anti-breastfeeding and anti-vaxx which was a bad fit for us. Given her stance on breastfeeding, she was uneducated about it and gave us bad information that caused issues with weight gain early on.

She also chose to delay standard vaccinations against our wishes.

Unfortunately due to availability (and the American healthcare system), we were stuck with her for almost a year before we were able to switch.

Our current pediatrician on the other hand is supportive of breastfeeding, home birth, and a full vaccine schedule.

It has been a game changer to be able to ask questions and receive up-to-date information.

If you haven’t found a pediatrician that you click with yet I recommend starting the search before baby number two comes along. A supportive pediatrician can make a big difference in how rocky your postpartum experience will be.

Zippers Not Snaps

This is one of those things I wish I had known with my first that I am shamelessly capitalizing on with my second.

Zippers are always superior to snaps with newborns.

Onesies with 2-3 snaps at the bottom? Those are fine.

I’m talking about the full-body onesies that have 7+ snaps all the way up the front. They’re cute but they aren’t worth it.

The faster baby gets in and out of clothes the less upset baby is going to be. There’s nothing quite so frustrating as listening to baby scream-cry at two in the morning while you try to get all those little snaps lined up and clicked together.

Trust me, zippers.

Less Data

When my son was born I was so worried about the data – How many hours of sleep? How many wet diapers? How many dry diapers? How long did I nurse per side? How often?

I was always so stressed out about when things were happening, It was hard to enjoy what was happening.

This time around I tracked all that stuff dedicatedly for the first week and then let it go.

It’s important to know that baby is in the normal range for diapers and sleep but once you’ve got a handle on what that is being able to put down the phone and just be present is a real blessing.

(I think part of it is the confidence you have the second time around too).

Cloth Diapers

We did disposables from newborn to two with our first kiddo and while they were convenient I had so much guilt about the amount of waste we were adding to our local landfill.

Not to mention the dent it was making to our grocery bill!

This time around we’ve been able to cloth diaper and I’m liking it! We still use disposables at night (and sometimes when I’m behind on laundry) but overall the cloth diapers are much easy than I expected them to be.

Here, Hold the Baby

One of the biggest differences that I’ve noticed this time around is that I’m much more willing to let other people hold the baby.

In part because I’m more confident in my role as ‘mom’ and in part because I relish the chance to get some good one-on-one cuddles with my oldest now that the baby is here.

It’s always exciting when a new baby is born and everyone wants to hold the baby. It’s nice to be able to feel confident letting other people share in the joy.