1 Year after having our second child

When I first started writing this post it was 9 months after having our second child. Now that I'm publishing it, it is one year since we had our second child. Unfortunately, I got side tracked with a different blog after our son was born because of some medical problems he had but now he is doing awesome and I am back to writing here! Having a 2nd child changes things dramatically as I'm sure you have heard from many people or are aware of if you have more than one child. Your oldest isn't the only one any more, the schedule is completely different from the oldest child, you have an older child who loves his/her sibling but also isn't very careful around him/her and the list goes on and on and on. I am going to write about sleep training! I have become SO passionate about this. Sleep training was extremely important with my daughter who is now 4 and because of the sleep training, she is an awesome sleeper. I set out to make my son an awesome sleeper as well. Why am I passionate about this? Sleep is imperative for kids. They grow when they are sleeping. When they get enough sleep they are happy, they can learn better, they are healthier, they function at a higher level, and so on. As we were talking about having a 2nd child our friends would tell us, "It is so different from the first. You carry the second child everywhere in the car seat because you have all these places to go with your older child and the baby just naps in the car seat." I always repeated that to myself over and over again thinking...I can do that and the baby will be fine. I have heard people say, "My first child is a great sleeper but my second one just doesn't want to take nap, or doesn't sleep through the night." People would even tell me..."Wait until you have your second child. He/she won't sleep like your first child." I couldn't understand why I heard that over and over again. I always thought to myself, "My second child will be just as good as a sleeper as my first." My husband was concerned about the very different schedules our two children would have and I kept saying, "Everyone says that you become more flexible with the 2nd child so we will just have to be." After my son was born (last May), and after we were all settled home from a very interesting first month, we had 2 two very different schedules. A newborn who couldn't stay up longer than an hour and a half and a 3 1/2 year old who napped in the afternoon and was extremely active as all kids are at this age. My husband was home with us for a while so it wasn't too bad. One of us would stay with the baby so he could nap in his crib when it was time to, and the other parent would spend time with the big girl; taking her places and trying not to change her life too much. Once my husband started work again in mid July it was more difficult. I couldn't bear to take my son out all morning, everyday hanging out and dozing in his car seat while my daughter was doing her things. I gave in for swim lessons because baby was small enough to get some decent sleep in the car seat while sister was in the pool 2 times a week, for 3 weeks. We even had enough time to play in the pool together for a bit. But once August hit, he was getting too old to sleep in the car seat. He was more alert and wanted to know what was going on out in the world. I read an article a while back about a mom whose first child was an amazing sleeper because she spent the time sleep training. However her 2nd and 3rd kids were not good sleepers and were often sick because they were carried around in the car seat taking the oldest child to all her activites. Once I read this I was sold on spending the time now on this baby and sleep training him. Keeping him healthy and teaching him good sleep routines was a necessity. What did that mean for his big sister? She was home much more then before. Before baby brother came, we went to the library every week, went swimming once a week, maybe did an art class here or there but we still had a good amount of time at home too but it would just be more time at home for a bit. I capitalized on the time I had with her when the baby was sleeping during the morning. We baked, danced, painted, did puzzles, read lots of books, and played outside as much as possible; whether it was summer or winter. She has a very good imagination so I also made sure she had some time to play on her own as well. She has a friend next door she played with a couple days a week too and when the baby was up we would cruise to the library for story hour or go somewhere to get out of the house for a bit. We had to get creative. There were a couple of times a good friend would take my daughter to the park so she had an opportunity to go somewhere else to play and be with other kids. Now that baby is on a more consistent schedule; one nap in the morning and one in the afternoon(the same time as his sister), life is much, much easier. However big sister does have some morning activities. My husband and I had talked about hiring a babysitter a couple mornings a week so his nap time wouldn't be interrupted while I took big sister to a couple of her morning activities. Is that the best idea? No, because it does cost money but I think it is worth having someone babysit for an hour or two so he still gets his nap in and big sister can get out. However, we did luck out as my mother-in-law came to visit this winter and came over to babysit baby boy while we were out so his nap wasn't interrupted. It has made things a lot easier!!! Is it worth taking the time to sleep train the 2nd child while the other one hangs out at home? Absolutely! There is nothing wrong with kids playing at home and there are so many things to do at home! Looking back now, it really wasn't for very long and was it worth it? Of course because now our second child, takes two naps a day at the same time everyday, knows to go upstairs when we say nap time or bed time, puts himself to sleep and takes long naps and sleeps consistently through the night!!! If I was to do this all over again, I would do the same thing. Sleep training is the most important goal for my kids and should be for all kids. Sleep is essential and makes happier children, happier parents, and happier homes!