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When I had my first baby it was easy to document and celebrate every milestone. I had the time and I used it well. Without fail, Maddie had a monthly professional picture taken for the first two years of her life, aka, till her sister was born… and then life got a bit more crazy (in a good way). With that new baby added into the mix there wasn’t time to celebrate those monthly milestones like there was with just one child. That didn’t stop me from still celebrating, but just not on the same grand level.
Today I’m sharing my “Tips For Celebrating Milestones For Non-First Babies”.
Years later and the arrival of our third daughter made milestone celebration seem completely out of the picture, or so we thought. But we soon realized that wasn’t the case at all… with just a little extra planning and some help from our older children, celebrating baby Emmy’s milestones was something we really looked forward to and celebrated like crazy!
Here are some tips for celebrating milestones for non-first babies:
- Have the sibling(s) get involved. This was the turning point for us. Having our older two as excited as we were and wanting to help celebrate was awesome. From Emmy learning to crawl, to her learning how to use a straw… it was her big sisters that really planned how we were going to document and celebrate. Maddie was the photographer and videographer and Ashley was the party planner. Yes, we really did have little parties for each milestone. We had some of our best memories during those little celebrations.
- Don’t worry about getting expensive professional photographs taken at each milestone. Instead pick a few that mean the most to you and have them taken then. The rest of the milestones can be photographed by you, or their older siblings (if they are old enough). The goal isn’t perfect pictures… it’s capturing memories!
- Enjoy each milestone. It is harder to celebrate all the milestones with more than one child, and that’s okay. Just remember to enjoy them. Mark the moment in your mind and add it to the memories in your heart. I promise your child will remember how happy you made them feel in that moment way more than how you celebrated each time.
One milestone tradition I did with each of my daughters was to help them feel better during teething time with Baby Orajel™ Naturals. That is a milestone most parents will never forget. In fact Emmy just got her “big girl” molars in a couple weeks ago, right around when she lost her first tooth… and the memories came flooding back to when she got her first tooth!
Tip- Take pictures of your baby’s tooth as soon as it starts to poke through and then take a new one each day till it’s all the way in. It’s a fun series of pictures to look back on… or make a “flip book with them”!
We’ve loved using Baby Orajel™ for years and Baby Orajel™ Naturals Teething Gel is a great tool to make teething so much better!
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Did you do anything different to celebrate non-first born baby milestones?
I was sooo bad about those milestones for my younger son. I just didn’t have time 🙂
I need to make myself not too busy and side tracked to recognize new milestones with each child.. I love your ideas.
Milestones are wonderful memories. What a great reminder to pay attention. Everything matters!
I just have two children and they were four years apart so I documented both sons pretty much the same way. I can imagine for those parents that have more than two or kids close together, it is much more difficult. Love your tips.
All of my children are 4 years apart but my grandkids are like steps, 2 are only a year apart. It gets hard for their parents sometimes to celebrate the milestones with each of them after the first. I’m passing along your tips to them as well.
I only have one child so I have not faced that problem, but I can imagine it gets hard keeping up after the first child. These are all great tips.
We have not done really anything for our second child, but he gets his own spoils in what he likes. I love what you have done and I will take some of what you did here.
I try hard to document. I guess that is what is great about smart phones now. Just take out the camera and snap away. I create video collages every year to commemorate each child.
This is great! It’s always important to strike a balance for these types of things and this is a great way to make sure everyone always feels important!
I take a million pictures, for me they are the easiest way to document everything. My kids are really close together so my kids celebrate the babies milestones like crazy!
My husband and I have planned our life together before we have a child. We want to make sure our baby will have a good place to live in and that we are financially stable. So that we do not have to work long hours and we can focus to our baby. And we are getting there.
Great ideat. Often as more kids come along, it can be difficult to remember special times.
I 100% agree with the photography part. I spent so much money with my first child trying to get every milestone captured by professionals. I’ve learned to do it myself with my second and I’m sure one day he will just be happy that those memories were captured (makes them even more candid and real being taken by me, too!)
It’s really nice that you celebrate every milestone even if you’re busy. I love that the older kids also help out. Such a great way to bond with the whole family.
Hi, I am not a mother yet but it is good that you make an effort to celebrate milestones with your child. It’s something she will cherish 🙂
Love this. It’s so important to recognize all milestones with all kiddos. I wasn’t ever really celebrated as a kid so I make sure my kiddos are!
Orajel makes naturals now? I have to keep this in mind for when my daughter has her baby.
I love milestones. My favorites are when the kids lose their teeth and have the cute gaps between them.
I was a first child so I don’t have experience with this!
I have 3 so this is definitely a good reminder!
I celebrated the milestones for both my children the same. I still have their first haircut hair trimmings stowed safely away.
It is so easy to forget to celebrate things with non-first babies. You have more to focus on and they tend to get lost in the shuffle. These are great tips, my oldest one is good about getting excited over the youngest one doing something new.
My one girlgriend was insane with a monthly photo then.. 2 came along and life changed!
I try to celebrate those milestones the same with all four kids. I will admit that I am WAY behind on baby books though!
It’s important to take the time to recognize the milestones of your younger kids even if you’ve already been through them once before with your others! They really notice the effort!
We took a lot more photos of my first child then my second. Life just gets so busy. Now with cell phone cameras it is a lot easier to keep the camera snapping.
This is so true. I will have to share this with my friend that is expecting her second child. With a little planning anything is possible.
These are great ideas! I do all our pics myself.
I have two son, love this post this is a great reminder too.
What a cool idea, it is so important to keep our children feeling special this certainly does make them feel special and loved.
Milestones are a beautiful reminder of your child’s legacy and we should always think of new ways to commemorate them. Great post.
Those are great tips! My son loves to be involved with his little sister’s milestones!
These are great tips. Getting the older kids involved is so much fun. That’s what I did when my second child was born.
We haven’t done a bunch of milestone stuff with my son, so luckily I don’t have much pressure for whenever #2 happens, but these are some great ideas!
These are great tips. It was really helpful for the first time moms out there.
I have documented every little milestone that my first born had until I had the second one then I lost track. However, I take so many pictures of them almost everyday so that counts!
Being a working mom, I sadly missed out on some milestones. But the ones I were there for were so very special.
my wife was great making milestone books for all of our children.
These are some great tips. I have two daughters. I never did anything differently with either of them. I love the idea of getting the older siblings involved though.
Love the idea of taking daily pictures as the teeth come in. Such a great keepsake!
I documented everything with my first born. For my second child, I missed some of his milestones. For the ones I didn’t miss, I had my daughter help and we had fun doing it.
I only have a son, so we’ve never tried celebrating that, but I do love the idea. I will have to share this with my sister. I think she will find it interesting too.
Such a cute post! As a firstborn, I definitely noticed that my younger brother got the short end of the stick when it came to celebrating milestones. I think I had like five Photo albums compared his two. This is a perfect way of being intentional about including all your kids 🙂
Same here! With my first, I went all out and then fizzled with each of the other kids.
I think taking all your own pictures along the way is the best idea. They capture true moments instead of standing still poses, and with the quality of cameras these days, even on your cell phone, the pictures will definitely turn out high quality, much like a professional.
So true! great tips. My poor second son, gets hand me downs and I definitely need to do better about framing photos and writing in his memory book. I did all of these things to excess with my first and now I’m treading water .
Milestones are a great reason to celebrate. I love reflecting on milestones
I wouldnt know… I have and will only have 1 child. But I have 4 other siblings and I do remember them all being there for everything. And me being there for all their stuff and milestones. It is important.
We always celebrate milestones! For first, second AND thirds! LOL! It just fun to celebrate!
When my son was born I always took pictures of everything, than 2 years later my daughter was born and i feel so bad that I haven’t done as much as I did with my first, but you are right, We need to pick and choose which milestones are important. xoxo