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Parenting The Second Time Round

by Jessica Amey

As I am now a mum to two children I guess you could call me ‘experienced’ but to be honest that would not be true at all.

All babies are different and with your eldest you are experiencing new things all the time so it is very much a case of trial and error.

One of the positive things I’ve noticed about parenting the second time round is that you are far more relaxed about everything.

I can still remember getting home from the hospital with Cherry and feeling totally clueless about what to do next.

I did not have the first clue what I was doing. I bet the hospital ward wish they’d never told me to ring them with any problems because I must have phoned them about ten times in the first week. Once was because Cherry was screaming and I had no idea what to do, they very kindly advised me it was probably wind but I didn’t know!

The bit about the women coping with no sleep and the men still sleeping rings lots of bells too! Mr C has never had anything to do with the night feeds, partly because I breastfed but mainly because he is terrible after a bad night, to the point where it’s easier to let him sleep!

I love the comment about how you never get a good night sleep again after becoming a parent, I can totally relate to that, you are always on the listen out. Then when they are teenagers and start going out you know you will be awake worrying about them so eight hours of peaceful sleep a night becomes a distant memory.

I think that is probably one of the biggest reasons why parenting a baby second time round is so much easier, you are already used to managing on no sleep.

You already know about the poo explosions, the fact that newborns have erratic breathing, that strawberries can cause an allergic reaction, that a lot of the time your baby is crying because they’re tired and not because they need feeding again.

You can test whether the bath is the right temperature with your hand and not with a bath thermometer and you know that if you can’t find your baby they are probably under the table eating last night’s dinner. Instead of worrying about germs you just feel happy that they are eating a piece of broccoli!

What surprised you most in your first few weeks with a newborn baby?

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