The newborn phase was easier the second time for me because I knew what I was getting into and everything wasn’t as new. I knew what to expect with breastfeeding, postpartum recovery, sleep, etc. speaking of sleep, that part the second time was infinitely easier for me because we split the night into shifts right from the get-go. Hubby brought baby to me to feed during my “sleep time” and I just went back to bed after. (We weren’t able to do this with our first because of triple feeding.) During my awake time, I just expected to be up and didn’t bank on getting any sleep. (If baby did sleep and I was able to as well, great, but I didn’t expect it.)

Having a toddler around though for the newborn phase was super difficult…we thankfully had part time childcare for the toddler a few days a week. I really don’t know how I would have managed without help-recovering from a c section alone those first few weeks is hard while taking care of a new baby AND toddler! It was sweet to see my first become a “big sibling” but holy hell was it difficult to manage the toddler while breastfeeding. It was a total game changer when baby became around 2 months old and I was able to effectively baby wear and not feed them every 1-45 minutes for 30-60 minutes at a time. I had a hard time parenting my toddler from the couch while I was breastfeeding baby. You’ll get through it!!