Taking Care of a Toddler is Harder Than a Newborn

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By: Jill Mills Posted: Jul 24, 2020 Updated: Aug 10, 2022

When we become pregnant, everyone tells us to sleep as much as possible, because once our baby arrives, we will never sleep again. However, you soon learn that you still have plenty of free time to take a nap or clean the house while your precious newborn takes their naps throughout the day. It isn’t until you start to taking care of a toddler that you realize it is a lot harder than the newborn stage.

Newborn Stage

I remember the newborn stage quite well. It was exhausting for the first couple of weeks, but slowly things die down and you can take in this new life. You find time to take a little nap or two while your baby is sleeping to have energy throughout the day.

There is still plenty of time to relax and take care of the house. Things start to become normal and once you have a routine, being a mom is so much fun.

I took my baby girl out for walks in the stroller and baby carrier along with riding in the cart at the grocery store. Everything seemed so effortless and so easy because she would just sit there, taking in all the new things surrounding her.

Then, she turned a year old and things started to change rapidly.

Taking Care of a Toddler

Soon, she started walking and climbing. She would get into everything in the house. I would constantly have to run after her. Our afternoon strolls outside were more chaotic than anything. I would have to stop her from running into the road or stomping over flowers.

I would often wonder, where did my sweet little girl go? However, I realized, she had reached the toddler stage and needed different things.

It wasn’t that she was all of a sudden a bad little girl or anything like that. She was only learning to be independent and have fun. However, it was definitely not as fun for me. By the end of every day, I felt more exhausted than at first when she was a newborn.

I remember one day where things were too overwhelming for me to the point where I broke down in tears. My daughter quickly noticed, and instantly came to my side. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me and kissed me until I felt better.

Taking care of a toddler is a lot harder than a newborn. However, it is so worth it. I chose to take things one day at a time, even one moment at a time. I am so grateful to be her mom and take care of this sweet little girl, despite all the challenges.