Large Age Gaps Between Kids?

Kirss

Any one here have a large age gap between kiddos? I'd love to hear your experience with such.  

My little girl will be 5 when this baby is born. For the most part I see this as a pro, she knows whats going on, and she's excited (right now) to be a big sissy. However it's going to be difficult going back to sleepless nights or the whole baby stage again. 

tinkerbellwest

My step sons that live with us full time, will be 10 & 12 when I deliver.
My husband and I have been together 7 years, and will be married for 5 years in September. He had talked me into not having any kids when we got custody of his boys in 2011, but in 2015 he randomly came to me and told me I deserve the opportunity to have a kid of my own. I was in shock for the most part, but super excited. Over the last year, he has made comments about starting over multiple times, and how right now we will be in our 40's when the kids graduate and are out of the house. He is excited for this journey, we are just anxiously waiting to get through this 1st trimester. 

Kirss

@tinkerbellwest When he dropped that, did you do a double take?!  I hear ya on the anxiously awaiting this first tri. 

tinkerbellwest

I sure did! I was like "what did you just say?!". YES!! I experienced a missed miscarriage in April of last year, at 11 weeks. . . so I REALLY want to get through these next 2-3 weeks.  

ReadytoRun77

I have a large gap! My boys will be 13 and 11 when I deliver this baby  I am no longer with their father (we divorced 4 years ago).  I really think they'll be excited when I tell them the news; however, I'm a little nervous that my youngest will be a little resentful at first because he seems to have had a little bit tougher time with the divorce.  They do like my boyfriend a lot though, and that will help, I'm sure.  I can't wait to tell them next week after my ultrasound, as long as everything goes okay! 

atack

I am 10 years apart from my half brother and he's now in his early 20's and we've been such good friends over the years.  Sometimes I am more like the sounding board/sister mom, but it's worked out well.  He also loves his niece and nephew, which is adorable and he's been apart of that since high school!

My oldest will be 6 by the time this new baby arrives.  I am excited about the gap.  Both my 6 and 4 year old will be soooo helpful.  Last time we had a baby in the house my oldest was 20 month yikes - now that was crazy - but crazy in a great way for those of you with babies that close!!! It wasn't that bad!

ReadytoRun77

aaand apparently I didn't do my ticker right :

andipandicWed121369

My daugther will turn 7 a month before the baby comes.  I'd like to pretend we planned it this way but this was never really the plan.  I wanted our babies 2 years apart but it took us 4 years to even get pregnant and then we lost 2, a year apart.  I've had 2 miscarriages in the end of May so I'm really looking forward to seeing the end of this month.  Baby is healthy so I'm trying to breathe.  My daughter is so excited.  We really aren't telling people yet but she randomly tells people and she's so cute about it that I don't really mind.  I know it's going to be a big transition for us (and I'm already dreading potty training again) but this time I'll know we're done so I can hold him a little longer and breathe in the baby smell and appreciate it all as much as I can.

Kirss

@andipandicWed121369 My daughter has let it slip a couple times, but it is what is it at this point. I love how excited she is. As for potty training round 2, I'm sure your 7y/o will be more than willing to help. A friend of ours has 2 kids 3 years apart and told us her oldest PTed the youngest in a week. They told the oldest every time the youngest goes on the potty they both get 1 Skittle or M&M, the older would constantly ask the younger to sit on the potty. I think we're going to adopt this method. 

@ReadytoRun77 You never know, your youngest might surprise you, however with every big transition there will be some "getting used to" for everyone. 

@atack I love hearing how you and your brother are so close. That's one thing I really hope for, is that my kiddos will have a close relationship despite the age gap. 

eazybreezy225

DD1 will be 2 weeks away from turning 8 years old when this LO is born. DD2 will be 5 years old at time of delivery and DD3 will be 3 and a half.
This is our 4th and last. DH is hoping for a boy but I think it will be another girl. I told him this is it, so if it's another girl he will just have to be OK with a house full of little ladies.
I'm looking forward to having the older two girls being more independent and helpful when baby is here.

andipandicWed121369

Thanks for the advice @Kirss, that's a brilliant idea!   She can be super bossy so maybe I'll just let her run with it.  

lijuan09

DS will be a few weeks away from turning 6 when baby is born. I'm not worried about the age difference at all. In fact I think it will be nice because DS is becoming more independent so I won't have to constantly take him to the bathroom, etc while I am taking care of the newborn. Plus the baby and I will have some time together while DS is at school. 

I am 10 years older than my sister, so I've never really known any different I guess.

stephydan

I have a 16 year old daughter, a 9 year old son (10 next week) and a 17 month old son 

after my 1st child I wanted 100 kids but it didn't work out that way
i had my 2nd when she was 6 and a half years old and although I loved it at 1st after a few weeks I had the "what the hell have I done thought" I felt so trapped and although I loved my son I found life with two so much harder, if just started to get my life back a little, my daughter was in school and now I was stuck at home with a newborn,  the company I worked for closed when I was heavily pregnant and no one else would hire me as I was pregnant so my fella convinced me to be a stay at home mum but I hated it 

8 and a half years later I had my 3rd and I love every second of it, I still work but evenings and weekends so I get to spend all day with him, I now drive which I didn't before so I don't feel stuck it isolated and I know people where I live now where I didn't know anyone with my 2nd son so felt like I was all alone
wondering what two close together will be like 

cmillar36

My oldest will be almost 7 when this one arrives. Youngest almost 5. It's a pro only one in diapers. Other 2 independent.

disneyfan0511

My oldest is 6 and my youngest will be 4 when this baby is born. It's more space than we would have liked, but my husband was diagnosed with cancer when we were originally ready to start trying for baby 3 so we held off until he went through treatment and was in remission for over a year. I'm happy to only have one in diapers - and my older two are very excited to meet baby, so I think everything happens for a reason. 

KiraH28

My daughter will be five when this LO is born. I never thought there would be that big of an age gap between my kiddos, but we had a tough loss a year-and-a-half ago. My daughter has been an only child for so long, I just hope she adjusts well!

Mandayno

My step daughter, who was an only child and very close to her dad, will be 21 when the baby is born. I was super nervous about how she would feel finding out she will now have a sibling. Although I still don't know how she truly feels, she says she's very excited and always wanted a sibling. She has even bought the baby some things such as diapers and wipes, so I think it's a sign she's actually happy! 

beaandthebabes

When this little babe is born my step son will be 19 and my step daughter will be 18. DH was hesitant to start the process all over again but now he is super excited. The kids are taking it pretty well.

stillclever17

My niece and nephew are 10 years apart. It's amazing having the older one to help out. It makes a huuuge difference. There are pros and cons to either situation (big or small age gaps). You make it work, and things turn out fine either way. 

Kirss

@stillclever17 you nailed it, there's pros and cons with any situation, and you need to make it work!!! 

AMCsquared

I love the idea of age gaps! The idea of more than 1 in diapers is what blows my mind.
I have a lot of friends with siblings of 7-11 year age differences and it seems great.

KathrynJ088

Mine are 8 & 10. We wanted to have 2 more so they'd grow up close in age like my first 2 did, just didn't plan for twins lol. Now they're REALLY close in age. The older 2 are super excited and I'm thankful to have their help even now. They do little things like unload the dishwasher, preheat the oven, clean their table space after eating, etc. My DD has promised to help change diapers and read bed time stories to them 

Mandayno

@brittabratwhite I'm actually very happy to see someone else in the same situation! I was very nervous about my step daughter's feelings