When she and husband Ryan Brown thought about having a second child they thought they wouldn’t miss a beat. However, Brittany Lee, mom to 3-year-old Jeb and baby Emily soon discovered this wasn’t the case. “Everyone said the second is harder, and even though Emily is a wonderful baby, everything is definitely harder! My c-section was harder. Keeping two kids alive at once is harder! Operating on little to no sleep with two kids is harder. Getting to work, accomplishing anything, and making it back home at a reasonable hour is harder.”

And, as the saying goes, it takes a village. Lee admits that she is very lucky that her village is large. Her village includes her pediatrician, Dr. Mary Grooms, who gave her advice when she was worried about how her family would adjust from a family of three to a new unit of four. She shared that Dr. Grooms told her “in order to ease the adjustment of the older sibling(s) to a new baby in the home, it is best to carve out one-on- one time with each child, away from the new baby, every day. The key here is quality time—not quantity—so 5-10 minutes of dedicated time each day will suffice. These moments affirm for the older child(ren) that they are still important and special to you. Making time to spend these special moments with them each day will go a long way towards heading off any negative behaviors or jealousy at the pass.” According to Lee, “we made sure Jeb had his own time from both of us each day and never had any issues with jealousy. Dr. Grooms is a magician!”

As a seasoned mom of two, Lee’s advice to other new moms is to sleep when the baby sleeps and to “identify your children’s strengths and nurture them.”

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