Expecting a baby is such an exciting time for families, but it can also be a time of uncertainty and anxiety about the new stage of life to come. Many mothers wonder: What will life be like with this new little one in our home? How will my other child(ren) respond to the new baby? How will I cope with the new responsibilities?
No two families have the same experience. Each one has their own unique situation, determined by factors such as:
- Ages and temperaments of other child(ren)
- Proximity to extended family (and/or other outside help)
- Financial security
- Other existing issues in the family
Over the next few weeks I will be sharing a series of 10 posts about how I am preparing our family for a new baby. Using the lessons I learned during my second pregnancy (which included having a two year old and moving to a new country four months before giving birth), I will share what I’m doing this time around as we expect our third child.
I hope the series will provide ideas to help both parents and children during this wonderful (but sometimes stressful) phase of life.
The 10 posts in this series are:
Reducing Maternal Stress While Expecting a New Baby – Are you taking care of yourself during this time?
Mentally Preparing Young Children for a New Baby – 15+ ways to include young children in the experience of preparing (emotionally and physically) for a new baby in the house.
Organising Your House for a New Baby – Decluttering tips, labels, routines and more!
Housekeeping Tips For Expanding Families – Meal planning, shopping online, and other handy ideas for busy mothers.
How to Plan Media Consumption Wisely – Don’t want the TV to be on all the time those first few months? Here are some helpful ways to keep your media consumption in check.
How (and Why) to Host a New Sibling Party – Want to celebrate the role of Big Brother or Big Sister? It can be a fun way to celebrate your child and assure them they still have a special role in your family. Get tips and ideas for the party in this post.
Building Family Unity with a New Baby in the House – Older siblings may naturally have a hard time adjusting to the new family dynamics. This post contains a list of 10 ways to foster family connectedness every day or on the weekends.
Favourite Big Sibling Books – A list of books preparing children for a new baby, and what we liked about them. Also some ideas about creating your own big sibling book.
Preparing to Handle Stress with a New Baby – Ideas for managing stress, especially amongst the older siblings, after you have a newborn.
Reaching Out for Help – Reasons why mamas should reach out for help, along with a “wish list” of ideas.
Feel free to add your own tips and experiences whenever you feel moved to!
Not long now 🙂
What a fab idea, a new baby in the family is such a big thing for the siblings (and parents!)
These will come very handy soon I hope!!! Thank you for sharing! Pinned!
Great idea! Looking forward to it!
I am soooooo excited about this series. Thank you so much. I think my greatest concern is how my little girl will cope with the changes coming. She has been absolutely perfection to this point and would be blessed if that continued.
Exciting isn’t it! I found involving my other kids with bub as much as possible to be helpful. They love being helpful and playing, giving cuddles with bub. Makes me very happy
I was so lucky that Miss Possum embraced the twins as soon as they were born. She has always been such a good girl and a fantastic big sister.
So exciting! Sounds like a great series you have coming up 😀
You are so right!! Looking forward to what you have to share in this series.
I love how you break things up that helps it all make sense!
Just look at that smile 🙂 Looking forward to a great series. xo P
Every day we step forward a new stage of life, marriage and then expecting a baby. Definitely a new beginning of life; so especially for a family it is quite exciting to expect a baby. So before expecting a baby we parent should prepare both mentally and physically and take every step with care; here also we can get some beautiful tips on when to expect a baby and how to take care of everything in advance. These tips are really beneficial for every parent and women should follow different tips from here for a safe pregnancy.