Original poster:
"What do you recommend doing before starting to try for a second baby? Or before finding oneself pregnant again?
We're not ready yet, but I'm thinking a bit about what I want to try to do (for myself, professionally, as a family, etc) between now and then. I finally started with a pelvic floor PT, and that feels like an important one... any other wisdom welcome. I
did a quick google search and got a lot of "what to do before baby #2 arrives" (like, while pregnant) but I'm actually wondering more about the window before pregnancy."
Replies:
Have #1 potty trained:
"One tip I have would be about potty training...ours are still a little young (I got pregnant with #2 when #1 was already 2 yrs old), but personally I would not have wanted to deal with potty training when I was very pregnant or had a newborn so I'd suggest either doing it before you are too far along if they are old enough or wait until after you have the baby. I hear a lot of times they regress once the new baby is born too if it hasn't been established for very long. I ended up waiting until after #2 was 4 months old to potty train #1."
Have #1 sleep trained:
"I'd also suggest getting your first into whatever sleeping arrangement you want post baby. For us we moved her into a different room and in a bigger bed 6+ months before the baby arrived so she didn’t feel displaced by the baby."
It's harder physically:
"The 2nd pregnancy is a lot harder for a lot of people physically, because you get bigger faster, pelvic floor is weaker and you are chasing around a toddler and don't have time to rest or take care of yourself in the same way...so I felt very immobile at the end the 2nd time."
Get physically fit:
Get in shape, as the previous poster mentioned 2nd time can be harder on the body and I just want to get stronger and more fit before getting pregnant again. I had wrist and sciatic stuff last time so anything to preempt that, and also diastasis and pelvic floor strengthening."
Practice self-care:
"Take care of myself!! Up my prenatal supplement game, get acupuncture, etc. last time I was super in top of this and it was really good for me so I want to be more consistent starting now."
Lose weight:
"Lose weight! I am at the tail end of breastfeeding and hoping that weaning will help me lose some of the weight I haven't been able to shed. I really want to get back down before starting another pregnancy so I am not insanely huge."
Have a vacation:
"Plan a getaway: this might be something that happens during pregnancy but I really want to have a little time away with no baby before it starts all over again. I was starting to think about 2nd baby and the timing of a pregnancy and then got really overwhelmed by the whole thing so thinking about having 5-6 months to prepare feels a lot better."
This being my second time around I would add that I really loved traveling with our first. We went pretty far abroad and experienced new places in a totally new way with a toddler. It’s not as easy to do with 2 kids for a multitude of reasons. So if you like to travel, do some bucket list trips with your first.
Go on some more date nights:
"Also go out and do some date nights with your husband while you can still drink and still get a friend or relative eager to watch your one child. The pool of people willing/able to do that once you have 2 get infinitely smaller!"
