You must have seen many siblings with hardly any age difference; may be a year or two. Undoubtedly, the mothers must have had a real tough time to handle both the kids since infancy.
Decades back, this was quite a normal phenomenon as most families had multiple children with hardly 1 -2 years age difference – it was easier then as people lived in joint family and nurturing a child was not done single handedly; however in present day nuclear family structure handling back to back pregnancies are really tough and needs proper time and act management.
Apart from incessant diaper changing, feeding and cleaning process, you would need more tips to handle repeat pregnancies. Here is a list for your assistance if you are already a mom and again carrying a baby; make life simpler with these tips –
Get a Systematic Routine
First write down a schedule for the day and try to follow it. On the first day you might face disappointments as you will come to know how the system will actually work. Amend the routine accordingly on the second day and you will see it working much better. Use the time wisely, do most of your house chores when the baby is asleep, don’t wait for next day morning, try to wrap up the jobs at night itself when the babies are asleep. This way you will be working smartly and also have time for your own relaxation, which is equally important when you have delivered two kids in short span of time.
Minimize the Time for Outdoors
Try to stock up your grocery and monthly shopping in bulk. This will reduce the time for running errands and you will also have time at hand to attend the children. If there is a home delivery system, opt for that. If the older child is going to school, you can put the younger one to sleep during those hours and get your work done. Try not to spend that time outside the school waiting for the child. Ask the school authorities help in this regard to handle your child with some extra care so that she does not get cranky.
Smart Handling of Both in Outdoors
When you are in some departmental store, try to engage the older one to look after the younger; keep the younger one in your car seat and place it in the trolley that keeps her safe and ask the elder one to help you bringing the things you need. She might also spend some time exploring; let her do it for a while and then you can ask her to push the shopping cart.
Avoid Strangers
Not just strangers, there are many friends and relatives also who make not so perfect comments about such back to back pregnancies – but you know you are lucky to be the mother of two and handling them expertly; so you don’t really need their expert comments. Overlook any kind of negative attitude and be a smarter mom.
Simultaneous Supervision
Your older one will be more active these days, thus keep an alert eye on her and get the little one closer to you so that the baby stays safe. It’s mostly seen that smaller ones are less demanding at this stage and are satisfied only if they are fed at proper intervals. Try to talk to your older as much as possible; this will also help the little one adapt words faster.
Organize the Wardrobe
This is a big hassle area for moms who are handling two at a time. Keep the clothes of the older and younger in separate closet and also get them dried separate so that you don’t need to spend time searching for them. Especially, socks and undergarments should be separate as they are smaller and gets mixed up easily. There are many convenient drawers available in market these days; use them to keep the essentials in one area – like one drawer for the medicines, one for the cleaning items, and so on. Label the drawers for convenience.
Fix a Feeding Time
Feeding is the most difficult task that every mom has to face, be it with single child or double. Fix a time for feeding both your kids. Let the older one take the upper hand and encourage the younger one to eat, in this way she will be less fussy about her plate and finish it off quickly. The younger one will also get inspired. If you complete the feeding task together somehow; you will get ample time in hand to finish off other tasks.
