BY_THE_NUMBERS

The Science of Second-Child Guilt: Why Love Multiplies, Not Divides

'How can I love another child as much as my first?' is the question nearly every expectant parent of a second child asks — and attachment science has a clear answer: the same way you loved your first. Bowlby and Ainsworth's attachment theory shows that secure bonds are not a fixed-size pie to be split, but a capacity that expands with each relationship. Judy Dunn's decades of sibling research confirms that first-child adjustment difficulties after a new baby are real — and temporary, typically resolving within months. The fear of insufficient capacity is the distortion; the data shows parental love is generative, not rationed.