Did you have an easier or harder time with your 2nd baby during the newborn phase?

Question

I'm 24 weeks pregnant with my 2nd and I'm DREADING going through the newborn phase again. My first wasn't the most difficult baby, but he certainly wasn't the easiest and I had many, many struggles with breastfeeding. And he'll only be 19 months when this little one is born so he won't be old enough to "help" in any way. I'm curious if I'm overly anxious about baby 2 or if I'm right to dread it as much as I am.

Answer

They had their own struggles but it was easier because I knew what I was doing (for the most part) as opposed to learning it all for the first time.

Answer

I'd say my second was/is a harder baby. She was alot easier to breastfeed than my first and we we made it 14.5 months BFing. BUT she hates sleeps, she does now sleep through the night but she's up super early, she's now 19months. She also a 'harder' child because shes so strong willed and into EVERYTHING. My first is no angel but my second is more of a devil 🥴 we've just had baby #3 and my 19month old is AMAZING! we are 3 weeks in and so far we have no jealousy and all she wants to do is love her baby.

Answer

Both of mine were pretty easy newborns, but doubling the number of little humans who needed me was so ridiculously difficult for me.

Answer

When I was pregnant with my second I was pretty scared how was going to work out. The same month my second was going to be born my first was turning two. So he was very young. But to be honest so many of my fears never came to fruition. In so many ways my second baby was easier than my first. And it's not that my first was really hard, it's just that this was not also brand new and scary. I was able to figure out a routine quicker. I didn't panic and stress as much when baby number two caught a little cold. I also learned better how to get baby number two to sleep better than baby number one. I had learned good advice too late with baby number one, but with baby number two I made sure to try out certain tricks ( like laying him down when he was drowsy but not fully asleep rather than making sure he was 100% passed out)
As time went bye, even though my oldest wasn't old enough to change the baby's diaper or babysit for me, he was old enough to entertain his brother, so for example if I had the younger one in his walker while I was making dinner, the oldest would bring toys to sit on his tray and they would play together, or he would make faces for him, which just kept him more distracted for me. This was a big difference from when I only had my first and he was constantly looking for me to entertain him.

Answer

I am going to be 100% honest. I feel like I stressed a lot less about baby stuff, like less obsessive over every little detail. However, I felt like I was robbed a lot of the bonding time. Granted im a single mom so had no support to step in. I couldn’t just peacefully nurse my sweet babe because my toddler would be absolutely batshit. Also my oldest has behavioral issues so it’s to the extreme compared to normal. I just feel like I wasn’t able to actually enjoy it as much. And the actual newborn phase of my newborn was relatively easy, it was the toddlerhood while having a newborn that was hard.

Answer

It was so much worse. My second had severely bad acid reflux and a milk protein allergy. My first was a breeze. She didn't even really start crying until she was 6 months old. But with my second is was almost constant crying when she wasn't asleep for those first 5 months until her reflux went away.

Answer

I have 3 kids, all 21 months apart. All were pretty easy newborns, the third being the easiest. 
My first was 21 months old when the second was born and helped a lot. He begged to help in any way he could. He'd bring me spit up rags and new baby clothes when the baby would spit up on me, would sometimes get me diapers, would sometimes take wet diapers to the cloth diaper bin in the laundry room, would bring me my pump when I was recovering from birth and couldn't get around real well, just did all sorts of really helpful little things. Listened really well, never got jealous or anything.
Second was 21 months old when the third baby was born and my first son was 3.5. My second son is autistic, non speaking, and didn't understand a lot at the time. So he couldn't help at all and wouldn't have wanted to even if he did understand lmao. He didn't get jealous of the baby at all but didn't (and still doesn't) have any interest in him. My 3.5 year old was still the big helper he has always been. 
So honestly, second was easier than the first. Second I had my first to help out in little ways. First I didn't have help because of my husband working.

Did you have an easier or harder time with your 2nd baby during the newborn phase?

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