Because there are few resources available to women making the transition from one child to two ( Beyers-Carlson and Volling, 2017), soon to be second-time mothers may turn to the internet for information on how best to prepare their firstborn children and themselves as the birth of the baby sibling approaches. Though the transition to siblinghood (i.e., when only children become older siblings) has been studied in offline contexts (e.g., Dunn et al., 1981 Dunn and Kendrick, 1982 Stewart, 1990 Volling et al., 2017), there are no investigations into how mothers discuss the transition from one to two children in an online setting. ![]() have at least two children, making the birth of a second child a frequent occurrence for many women. ![]() ![]() The transition to the second child is one such area that many mothers may discuss online. Further, online communities provide an environment of anonymity and disinhibition, which can create a safe space for women to navigate the online world as a social outlet to discuss their pregnancies and difficult parenting issues or to share concerns about their role as mothers without revealing their true identities ( Schoenebeck, 2013). Thus, many women have turned to the online world for pregnancy and parenting advice, to find social support from other mothers, and to acquire information on infant health and development ( Sarkadi and Bremberg, 2004 Daneback and Plantin, 2008 Plantin and Daneback, 2009 Dworkin et al., 2013). Though technology use is increasing, in general ( Martin and Robinson, 2007 National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2011), pregnant women and mothers have been particularly active Internet users. The rise of the internet introduced a drastic change in the ways that parents used information and interacted with others ( Shirky, 2008). Online parenting communities offer avenues to support women as they make the transition from one child to two and may provide targeted opportunities to disseminate evidence-based practices that can assist these women and their children. Future research needs to recognize that second-time mothers may have distinct concerns surrounding the birth of their second baby, and antenatal education and parenting classes may need to be modified to be more inclusive of these women’s needs and perspectives. Second-time mothers also raised questions about preparing their firstborn children for a new baby sibling, how they would care for two children, whether they would love the second one as much as the first, and how the second child would change family dynamics. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) analysis on roughly 16,000 posts to Bab圜enter birth clubs in 2017 by approximately 4,000 users revealed second-time mothers relied on the online support of the Bab圜enter community to share and discuss topics of pregnancy, birth, and child rearing. The current study conducted an on-line textual analysis of the posts of second-time mothers during pregnancy and the first months postpartum on the Bab圜enter LLC website, one of the largest online parenting communities. ![]() Yet, second-time mothers may have different concerns than first-time mothers given they have a newborn infant and another child at home. Mothers use online resources frequently to obtain information on pregnancy, birth, and parenting.
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