What you wished you'd done before DC#2

[whoareyouIwonder]

Currently TTC DC#2

What do you wish you had done?

For example, DS 2 years currently sleeps very poorly. My plan is to get him sleeping through and in a proper routine before a new baby

Also to potty train him so I'm not buying 2 lots of nappies!

I feel like there is so much I wish I had done with my toddler before his sister came- I wish we had got him toddler more used to dad taking care of him, especially being able to put him to bed and going to him in middle of night. My toddler also really likes me to feed him his food and I wish we had made him more independent with eating before the baby came, also we potty trained 4weeks before the baby came- not a good idea when heavily pregnant then he has a massive regression when the baby came 🤦🏼‍♀️5months down the line finally mostly back to been trained again!!

Sarah ockwell Smith has written a good book on preparing for the second child and I wish I had read that too!!

Good luck with TTC, despite everything when the toddler makes the baby laugh it's so cute it's makes all the hard work and stress feel
so much better.

I would actually focus on what you need to do for you so you are refreshed and ready to go through having a new baby all over again. In terms of dc1, the only thing I really wanted for her was that she was starting school (wanted a large age gap, which worked well).

But actually focussing on me made a huge difference in terms of how easy #2 was compared to #1. I made sure I had time for myself again before I got pregnant, nights out, weekends away, dh and I had lots of grown up time together without night wakings and 2 hour long bedtimes. We got ourselves really set financially, making sure we both hit a few key milestones in terms of career and finances. It meant we were less stressed with #2 and were fairly well rested and refreshed. It really made a difference. Though I agree with potty training too. Not because you don't want two in nappies, but because potty training takes 100% of your focus and it will be an absolute nightmare to do with a small baby in tow.