Both parents would love for babies to love each of them the same, but this doesn’t always happen with children, and this is also true when it comes to toddlers who experience the arrival of a new baby.
This article looks into why your toddler prefers dad after the new baby arrives
Toddler prefers dad after new baby:
When toddlers love they love hard, always wanting to be around you, always wanting to cuddle you, and always wanting to kiss you but one parent may get the bulk of this after a new baby
Here is why your toddler prefers dad after a new baby is born:
Primary parent:
If the primary parent of the toddler, the one responsible for waking, feeding, bathing, and putting the baby to sleep at night, switches from mom to dad, because the mom is heavily pregnant then the toddler may start to prefer dad because of all the care that dad gives. This preference may continue after mom has given birth.
Toddlers generally take more of a liking to whoever is taking care of them the most, an example of this can be seen when grandparents raise the kids for a while while parents are at work.
It isn’t necessarily that the toddler prefers the grandparents and doesn’t love the parents, it simply means they gravitate towards whoever seems to love and take care of them the most
What to do:
This is normal behavior and isn’t something that you’d need to worry about as a mom, the more time you spend with your toddler, when you’re physically able to, the more the child will warm back up to you.
You can speed this process up by engaging with your toddler one-on-one, by giving them reassuring words, and giving them lots of hugs and kisses to make them feel loved and cared for.
You can also engage with your toddler while you are busy with your baby, do this by reading a book, chatting to or singing to your toddler when feeding your baby.
That being said, this multitasking may take a while lot of mental energy so you may want to give the dad the baby and spend time with the toddler one on one.
Don’t get upset or pull away when your toddler rejects you, just keep putting yourself out there, this will be painful but your child should go back to loving the two of you again.
Novelty:
Another reason why your toddler may be more loving towards their dad when the new baby arrives is because of the novelty.
If you as the mom are always there for the toddler, if the toddler only sees dad a couple of hours a day, but now that the baby is around the toddler sees dad more often, then the toddler may get excited about being around dad and will cling to him more
This simply means that your child is secure in the love that mom has for them and wants to enjoy spending time with dad for a change.
What to do:
You don’t have to worry if you see this behavior in your child the child still loves you as a mom, they just want to spend more time with their dad.
You can allow their bonding to happen and at the same time have family time as well.
If you enjoyed this article you may be interested in other child related articles: Why Does My Baby Open And Close His Hands, Why Do Toddlers Love Babies, Why Does My Baby Like Lights So Much?, Will My Baby Remember Me Being Angry, Why Does My Baby Moan All The Time, Why Does My Baby Hit Me In The Face?, Baby Cries With Nanny, Toddler Only Wants Mom After New Baby, Toddler Mad At Mom After New Baby
