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Taking care of newborn and Toddler

jchytiljchytil member
in C-sections
Was wondering how mamas having their 2nd or 3rd section handle taking care of their other little ones especially a toddler. My son will be 21 months old when our new baby arrives. I was just thinking the other day how will I lift him in and out of the crib, high chair, or change him? I am thinking about trying to move him into a toddler bed before baby comes but I am just not sure. What did you all do?
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Re: Taking care of newborn and Toddler

  • EmR22EmR22 member
    My second DD and third DD were 21 months apart. We did move my 2nd into a toddler bed before her sister came. She actually took to it very well. We also switched her to a booster type strap in seat for eating that she was able to climb in and out of herself. As far as changing her we either did it on the floor, or we put a towel on our bed and she would climb up there lay on the towel and I could change her while standing or my DH did it for the first week or two. Honestly after that I was able to bend/lift enough to take care of both of them.  
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  • mandyrator79mandyrator79 member
    My first two were 16 months apart. It was very challenging but I made it. My husband was home for the first week, and after that I was on my own during the day. I did make a mistake of helping my 16 month old get on the couch around four days after my c-section, huge mistake. I could not use the high chair during the day, so he had to eat wherever I found a safe spot. I changed his diaper on the floor, which was still hard as getting up and down to the floor was not fun. He was not in a crib so I don't have advise there, that's going to be a hard one. I can't remember when I started lifting him again, but I know it was well before 6 weeks pp. I just did it as little as possible and tried to use mostly my arm strength.
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  • jchytiljchytil member
    Thank you I also just seen another similar post down a ways sorry! But I think we may try to move DS to a toddler bed at the end of this month. 
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  • sytomsytom member

    DD was 20 month old when DS came.  Two months before my due date, we made the switch to a big bed.  It was really difficult for her to understand that she has to stay IN bed.  As difficult as it was, I am really happy that we did it before the new baby was here.

    When I got out of the hospital, my husband was with us for three weeks. I didn't feel that I was able to take care of my toddler.  It was his job to do it. It didn't feel safe to be alone with her.  After that, I was able to take better care of her even if I cheated sometimes to lift her up.  Still, I took it pretty easy at first and gradually started to do more.  I'm six weeks PP and my life got back pretty much where it was before.  

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  • ZooCrewMomZooCrewMom member
    My boys are 16mo apart. I had help the first two weeks and after that I just went slow. I moved DS into his toddler bed at 16mo without much problem, so that helped as well. My 16mo old was 28lbs at the time, so he's a big guy. During the day the next two weeks we placed our extra crib mattress on the floor of our family room and my toddler napped there during the day. It was nice to be limited to one floor. As long as I limited my lifting to a couple of times a day it was fine. 
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  • WhitWedWhitWed member

    Just had our 2nd a few weeks ago and they are 23mo apart. We moved DD to a toddler bed well in advance of DS's arrival when she was around 19mo.  It was a very easy transition for us. I recommend putting the toddler bed against a wall and then buying a little rail for the side that is open. This made DD feel as though she was still enclosed even though it was easy to climb out.

    As for handling both there are times where I wonder what I was thinking, but I'd say 90% of the time it exceeds my expectations and is awesome.  Everyone kept telling me how awful it was so I went in expecting lots of tears, tantrums, and exhaustion. Though we're exhausted we haven't had any issues between them and our children are amazing!  I wish you luck. It takes work and you will be more tired than you have ever been before, but I think your kids will surprise you and each day gets easier! (In addition, both recoveries for my c-sections have gone really well so that may account for some of the ease in transition).

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