Two Under Two! What do you wish you had known?

escortg3

I had 14 months between my two. Before second was born i had first out of cot and into bed at 12 months. Put stair gate across bedroom door to make it safe. This also gave a safe place to put eldest when i was dealing with baby. Also got oldest sitting at table out of high chair and feeding herself well.

Other thing i found important was to put baby to bed early so that oldest had time alone with us parents.

depending on finances the other thing i did was enrol oldest in nursery one day a week so that i could do the weekly shopping and housework. when baby was six months old i put him in nursery aswell on same day so that i had one day dedicated to housework ironing and shopping.

thegirlintheattic

From my MiL(to be): Never leave the older one alone with the little one when he's been showing an interest in bodily functions. You may end up with nappies off and poo everywhere but the potty.

evansmummy

There's 18 months between my two. My son, the first was a dream baby, slept throught at 3 weeks, barely cried, just a generally chilled out baby. Couldn't figure out why my friend was having a difficult time. Well when my daughter arrived she was the exact opposite and I struggled.
I can't lie, it was a tough time. I beat myself up over not giving each of them the one to one attention I had been able to give my first.
They are now 4 and nearly 3 and this past 6 months or so it's started to get easier. They fight like cat and dog sometimes but they do love to play together too. They are in different rooms in the same pre-school and when they link the classes together they always end up playing together.

Good luck, you're gonna have great fun. And make sure you get yourself a good double pram (we've sworn by our phil n teds) we're still using it sporadically even now.

delain

I had three under two... 20 months between my eldest and my twins.

I seemed to be forever changing nappies!

Now I have 5 under 10 and 2 under 2!

All I can say is get one on one time with your oldest as others have said. Although with 3 big sisters who worship the ground she walks on its my older toddler that's turning into a bit of a princess :eek:

Oh, and go out as much as you can, get the older one (and later both of them) running about in the fresh air. That will make them sleep at night :rotfl:

rachbc

That the best age gap between kids is 9 years ;-)

No advise at all - but there are 18 months between my brother and I and all I can say is good luck!

cyclingyorkie

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

From my MiL(to be): Never leave the older one alone with the little one when he's been showing an interest in bodily functions. You may end up with nappies off and poo everywhere but the potty.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


If your eldest is a girl and you then get a boy the advice is don't change his nappy on the bed!;);)

Boys can get it quite a distance when they wee with a nappy off!;)

I know so many people who made this mistake and had to change the whole bed....

8pnoodles

I don't think there is much really, you make it up as you go along!
I have twin boys, now 2 1/2. Maybe buy less baby stuff in advance as my expensive twin playmat was useless with a reflux baby who can't lie flat.
We had speech issues with one twin. In fact he was bad enough they suspected autism. No eye contact much, etc.
One of my coping mechanisms for having a twin being sick and crying non-stop was letting the other watch tv. He watched a lot! I banned tv as he was fixated and did a LOT of speech therapy games with him, 3 hours or more one to one a day! And we got him back. he is now a very happy smiley interactive outgoing boy.

We started letting him watch tv again and he regressed.
So I wish someone had told me no tv. I dunno how we would have survived the first year tho!

Winky,_The_House_Elf

Interesting about potential issues around speech.

We are raising DD bilingual (DH is Dutch) so I guess its something to watch out for, especially as they may end up with their own language! (I am learning Dutch too so they can't get away with things!)

Also the TV is something I am guilty of- Dutch Sesame Street is educational in my mind whilst I am [STRIKE]on here[/STRIKE] doing important stuff and can't give her attension!

Funny how I justify that to myself!

There's 18 months between me and my younger sister, so when I read about the older one giving in all the time, I realised that is something I do all the time! Now I know where it comes from I'll watch out for that too!

Lots of fab advice on here, Thanks:beer:(make mine a non-alcoholic one!)

embob74

From my experience my advice would be that no matter how many children you have all their personalities will be very different.
Sort out your older child's bed and bedtime routine before baby arrives. We left it too late and suddenly had to move older child out of a cot and into a toddler bed while dealing with a baby each night. We were lucky my boy is so good - it so easily could have been more of a nightmare if he didn't like the change.
get your shopping delivered or go with somebody else. I find it the hardest thing. Hoping you get a parent and child parking space and if you don't struggling to open doors wide both sides to get the kids out. You either have to leave kids in the car while you get a suitable trolley or struggle with a baby and toddler to the trollies. One time my toddler ran off while I was putting the baby in the trolley. He fell over and I felt awful but not as awful as if he had run off into the road.....I still dread supermarkets now!
Be prepared that there will be occasions where one of the kids is crying and you just can't help them straight away. It won't hurt either of them to cry a little and you will learn to discern the different types of crying and when you really need to rush to the other child.
Congratulations x

delain

I second shopping online!

I very rarely take all 5 to the shops, just not worth it!