What To Do For A Mom Who Just Had Her Second Baby

It can be tough trying to figure out what to do for a mom who just had her second baby.

Most people think about what a first-time mom needs after having a baby, but what about what a second-time mom needs?

I know when I became a mom for the first time I needed help, but now that I’m a second-time mom, I really feel like I need help.

Any mom, no matter how many children they have, who has given birth needs some kind of support.

After all, giving birth is very hard on the body and as much as our newborns need help and support, so do us mommas.

Especially us mommas who already have a little one that we already looking after.

I have already discussed with you all how tough it was getting through the first trimester of pregnancy with a toddler.

So imagine how tough it is having a second baby with a toddler.

After I gave birth to my second baby, I was lucky to have my husband home and be surrounded by my family as well as my in-laws.

They were able to step in and help me in a lot of ways for those first couple of weeks that our baby girl was home.

And I realized that what they did can be helpful for another mom who has given birth for the second time.

So of course, I want to share with you all.

Here is what you can do for a mom who just had her second baby.

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What Not To Do As A Mom Who Just Had A Baby

So before I get into what you can do for a mom who just had a baby, let’s talk about what the mom shouldn’t be doing.

Because like I said above, childbirth is a lot on the body and you should never ignore what the doctor tells you after you have given birth

Which is the first thing you shouldn’t do as a mom who just had a baby.

This is not the time to go hard and become Wonder Woman.

If you want to be at your best for your baby, make sure you are following your doctor’s instructions when they tell you to not pick up anything too heavy.

In fact, my doctor even told me to not pick up anything heavier than the baby.

That’s how serious it is when it comes to your body healing from birth.

Other things to not do after having a baby are:

• Having too many visitors early on
• Becoming dehydrated
• Not eating
• Trying to clean up the house

There are more things that you shouldn’t do after having a baby that you can find in Marissa’s post from Just Simply Mom.

She has a bunch of tips in that post that are helpful for not just first-time moms but can be useful for second-time moms as well.

Even though we have given birth before, we all could use a reminder of what we shouldn’t be doing after giving birth.

What To Do For A Mom Who Just Had Her Second Baby

Now that we have discussed what moms shouldn’t be doing, let’s talk about what a second-time mom would want after having their second baby.

Watch Their First Child

This is the very first thing a mom who just had her second baby would want.

And the reason I know this is because it is what I wanted when we first came home with the baby.

Do you remember the time you brought your first child home and it was a bit of an adjustment period for the first couple of days?

Well, that is kind of tough to do with a toddler running around begging for your attention as well.

Obviously, adjusting as a family of four will take time and you will have all the time in the world to do that now that the baby is here.

But it would be nice to soak in a few moments alone with just your newest addition.

Most parents usually already have someone watching their oldest child when they went into labor.

So maybe if that person could take an extra day or two watching them so that the parents can really bond with the baby, the parents would really appreciate it.

If the parents are not comfortable with that, maybe having someone come over who is strictly there to attend to the needs of the older child.

My daughter stayed with my parents for a day after I had our second daughter and then when they came to visit, they were in charge of entertaining and making sure she was good.

It worked perfectly and was exactly what we needed as we embarked on our parenthood journey for the second time.

Cooking/Bringing Meals

This is another thing that many moms want after having a baby and what you will see across nearly every blog you come across.

Because it is true.

New moms and moms again know that it is possible to go almost the entire day without eating when you just had a baby.

It is not usually on purpose, but you get so caught up in making sure your baby is getting enough to eat that you forget to eat yourself.

For my breastfeeding mommas, it is really important that you are eating and staying hydrated to keep your supply up, so you can’t go without eating.

But the last thing you need to be doing is standing for long periods in front of your oven trying to cook 3 meals a day.

This is where having someone cook or brings meals to you comes in.

It is one less thing that you have to worry about and this also ensures that you are eating throughout the day.

My mom took on this task for the week that she was here and I was so thankful that she did because I’m pretty sure I would not have eaten as much without her.

Help Clean Their Home

Along with cooking, cleaning is another thing that we mommas would love to have help with.

It is already tough trying to keep a clean home with young kids and now that we have added a newborn to the mix, the house will definitely get neglected.

I don’t know about you all, but I don’t well with a lot of clutter everywhere.

Clutter leads to disorganization and when our home is unorganized, then I am organized.

When it was just us as a family of three, I had a cleaning routine down that kept our home mostly clean and tidy which set me up to be a more organized and productive mom.

Obviously, that has changed now.

If you want to do something nice for a mom who just had a baby, help them clean their home.

This can be washing bottles and pump parts, tidying up after the older child, or even hiring a cleaning service to come to clean their home.

My mom also helped with cleaning our home while she was here with us and like I said above with the meals, it is one less thing that we had to worry about.

Let Them Take A Nap

Let’s face it when everyone tells you to sleep when the baby sleeps, most of us have a hard time following this suggestion.

And it’s usually because we are trying to do one of the items above.

I completely get it because as a stay-at-home mom, I try to take care of anything that needs to be done while my daughter is sleeping.

My daughter’s daily routine made this possible, but a new baby does not really run on a schedule.

Which means you are on their time.

If you are visiting a mom who just had a baby, offer to watch the baby for a couple of hours so that she can take an actual nap.

I know as a mom breastfeeding a newborn throughout the night, I’m still very tired when I get up in the morning.

But I can’t exactly sleep in due to a toddler right in my face in the morning.

While both of my parents were here, my dad would often handle my older daughter and my mom would help with the new baby.

This would often look like breastfeeding my baby girl in the morning and then giving her to my mom so my husband and I could get a couple more hours of uninterrupted sleep.

It was much needed for us in order to function for the rest of the day.

Ask Them What They Need

It could just be me, but I’m terrible about asking for help.

I feel like a burden to others when I have to ask for help instead of taking care of it myself.

But if you have been keeping up with the blog, then you know that this attitude can often lead to mom burnout if things start getting too overwhelming.

Which is very likely to happen with a newborn and a toddler.

So what do you do for a mom who doesn’t ask for help?

You offer help.

If she will not ask you for help, you offer it instead.

I am telling you this because as a mom who is just like this, by you offering to help, it takes the pressure off of us of having to ask for help.

This can be as simple as offering to grab food for the mom on the way to the house or something as big as offering to grab groceries for them.

Anything helps.

My sister would often help with grabbing food or groceries and it helped us out a ton.

Your Turn

Alright ladies (and gentlemen present here), that is what you can do for a mom who just had her second baby. Now I want to hear from you all now. What are some other things that you think a second-time mom who has just given birth would want? Let me know in the comment below and while you are still here, check out my previous post below. Until next time!

Read More: Postpartum Must-Haves For Second-Time Moms

Love,

Just Jass