17 month old and newborn, any tips

[GrassWasGreener]

we have a 17 month old daughter and are about to have a newborn enter our lives. Any tips? DD is fab and quite amenable most of the time, like any toddler, she is testing her boundaries and learning what is and isn't acceptable. We are aiming to include her and she loves doing jobs so if she interested we will of course ask for her help, little things like put nappy in the bin and pick up that toy for me etc. I think she will be fine, a bit confused of course, but fine.
Does anyone have any tips? She will still go to nursery twice a week for her own time and we have arranged for sleep overs at a friend if she needs a little break. In theory her routine won't really change and we will make sure she gets some alone time with mummy and daddy. Thats all there is to it right? She so young she should adapt quickly to an additional small person is my thinking. Just looking for those little nuggets of gold that MN can offer that we may not of thought of yet

Mine are not quite 17 months apart. Life just continued as normal for the eldest, and her sister fitted in.

We did all the toddler’s stuff - class, park, playgroup etc and the baby came along too.

We didn’t ever have any issues with jealousy - I think some days she was oblivious to a baby being in the house 😅. Don’t think we ever made a big deal about things and it was all good.

thank you, thats our plan too

Forgot to add, our eldest didn’t go to nursery and since we were overseas we didn’t have grandparents etc on hand.

Sure we have a bit of false memory syndrome since I remember being shattered, but it was really all okay.

I think the beauty with such a close age gap is the eldest doesn’t actually have any recollection of life as an only child so they don’t really know a difference.

It’s also very handy since they’re into the same stuff so you generally cater for one audience. At 7 and almost 6, mine still like the same stuff which is a bonus.