How long between babies?

kg_08

DH and I had a conversation this morning about how long we'd like to wait between kids. I was thinking to have baby #2 just before this LO turns 2... but he said he wants another before this one is even 1 year old! I told him there is no way that's going to happen.

How long is the healthy ammount of time they say to wait between kids? And for those of you who have one or more already, what do you recommend for the perfect age gap?

dixielane

Hubby says 2 years, I say "whenever". I kind of wanted to give this LO a year to herself, but I am not wanting to take any serious precautions --- I wont be on BC, and we both haaate condoms.

We prevented pregnancy pretty easily without any real "birth control" means.

LaurelBee

ha! Dh just said that he'd like the kids to be a year aprt or so.  I said we'd have to start trying again by Sept or Oct of this year and he was like- Um nevermind  

bone2595

Goodness your DH is a go-getter! LOL.

I think it depends how your deliver/recovery goes. Plus are you planning to breast feed? I know you CAN get pg while BF but I don't think most people do..

We want to have baby number 2 around the time this LO is 2 but we are just going to go with the flow

swmntchr

All I have heard is ideally 2-3 years, but there really is no magical formula.  Mine are going to be 6 years apart and I love that he is going to be so mch of a helper and can't get jealous over toys because he isn't interested in the baby toys - he just thinks their cute. 

megdrew1218

Maybe he'll change his mind after this baby comes. Wasn't he waking you up and making the dog bark in the middle of the night this week? As for the health of having them so close together, you should talk to your doctor.

megwitt

Ours will be 20 months apart! I will let you know how it works out

Raffes484

DD will be 19 months old when DS is born, we found out we were expecting him 2 weeks before her birthday. I don't know if it's perfect, but we'll make it work. We started trying for #2 when DD was 7 or 8 months old.

niccole_e

It probably varies but I would have had another when mine was a year or so, but he's now over 2 and I have to say being prego with him is a bit more challenging. I kind of got used to the "freedom" we were getting.

BeckyTheEngineer

dixielane:

Hubby says 2 years, I say "whenever". I kind of wanted to give this LO a year to herself, but I am not wanting to take any serious precautions --- I wont be on BC, and we both haaate condoms.

We prevented pregnancy pretty easily without any real "birth control" means.

Ditto, on not going to do any hormonal birth control.  Since this is our first, and I have no true idea how hard it will be taking care of one (let alone two) I think I'll wait on making any decisions until we get through this one pregnancy.

shanmoyer

We're thinking of TTC again when Bug's almost 2.

I'm not sure about BCP after he's born though - my body got really funky after going off BCP (granted I was on it for about 10 years)...I don't want to go through the 53 day cycles I went through last summer.

We'll see!

katie277s

Since DS wasn't planned, I wasn't able to space them out as I wanted.  Ideally, I wanted them to be about 3 years apart, but we just weren't able to have another baby when DS was 3.  Our kids will be 5 years apart, but I like the idea that DS will understand what is going on, who the baby is, what I am talking about if I ask him to get me XYZ, etc. 

tiniestjohnson

Ours will be 19 months apart.  Not sure how it will go, my only thought is (and this of course is just my experience) that I was glad I didn't get pregnant until LO#1 was able to walk confidently on his own.  He is a big kid, and slightly crazy, and I am not sure I could have handled being pregnant with a non-mobile baby!

krogers0905

My first daughter is 8 (prior relationship). I'll be 33 when this baby is born and if we decide to have another I'd like it to be before I'm 35. 37 at the latest. I'm having a Scheduled C-section (1st born via emergency one) so I'll need to read up on the how much time in between pregnancies is recommended. DH hasn't really said much other then what ever I want is fine.

aimeelv

I'm really excited that our kids will be just over two years apart.  I think it will be a good age gap - they will be close in age, but Zachary will be old enough that he is capable of entertaining himself, feeding himself at the table, etc.  We started trying around the time that he turned one, but it took us 9 cycles to get pregnant again.  I think it worked out for the best though!

pbaldo05

My oldest son is a less than 26 months older than our second son, which was great. My oldest DS will be almost 6 and my youngest will be 3 1/2 by the time this baby is born. I think I enjoyed more time with my oldest two and that's why we waited a little bit longer. Although, we weren't going to even try till our youngest was 4, but oh well. We are super excited now

mysticporter

DD will be a little over 2 in June, when #2 is due.  I don't think it's the kind of thing you can realistically have a clue about what will be right for your family until your LO is born.  We didn't feel ready to try until DD was a little over a year old, not that it would have mattered anyway since until she totally weaned at about a year I wasn't ovulating, anyway.  We did want to start trying as soon as we felt ready to have them close in age, but the two of us just weren't prepared to think about handling another newborn (and didn't have the financial cushion built up, etc.) until this point.

citygirl_

Ours will be exactly 2.5 years apart... I would've liked anything around 2ish years apart, but 2.5 sounds good!  We might have a 3rd, but I'm not sure the spacing with that one.

julybaby23

I don't know how soon is really healthy. I will be 37 when LO is born so I will be TTC as soon as I can possibly stand it. Probably January at the very earliest (when LO is 6 mos).

koat

My husband's son is 9.5, my daughter is 8.5.  They're a year and two months apart and have known each other since they were babies.  His son lives with us full time, and they're great together.  We're actually trying to get them to go call on their friends more often because they spend so much time playing together.  They'll be 9 and 10 when this one is born, so I imagine they'll be a huge help.

Now, our son's BM is having her second baby in a year and a half, and I admit, I could never have them that close together!  A year old and a newborn?  I know there's other ladies on here doing that...but I would be so overwhelmed!!

SuperCuteBenz

A lot of people change their minds after DC #1. I think it depends on your baby, recovery, etc. You may have a really hard infant stage and decide that you don't want to try again for a while, or your baby may be a breeze and you end up pregnant before he/she is even 6 months old.

Honestly, DD was an awesome baby. No colic, no health concerns, slept awesome from day 1, etc. I would have gladly welcomed another one before she turned one. However, we had other things going on at the time.

So, DC #2 will arrive when DD is around 2 1/2. I think it will be a good age gap. We didn't want more than 3 years between children, and this will most likely be our last.

I think it is one of those things that is hard to decide until you have been there and done that.

mrsfrank

DS will be 22 months when DD is born..... I have days I wish we would have waited longer (today! DS woke up at 3am and I haven't been back to bed since) and other days I think this is perfect.... I don't know that there is ever a "perfect" time. SIL waited until my niece was 4 and it was hard for them to get back into "baby mode"... a friend of ours had theirs almost exactly a year apart.... works for them

FishNchips1

we kinda talked about it. it depends how baby # 1 is.

Probably around when our DD or DS is 3 years old

Alli3586

We knew we wanted them as close together as possible. We waited until I felt ready, which was when DD was about 10 months old. We were lucky and got pregnant right away, so they will be about 19 months apart.

summer2819

 We wanted ours to be 2 years apart and they will be but I kinda wish I would of waited a bit longer.

Our DS will be 2 years 3 months when our next comes along and right now I'm overwhelmed and she's not even here yet. My DH is military so he's not home much to help out...I feel like a single parent.

seells

We won't even talk about trying for another one until this LO is at least 2 years old. We want them to be 2-3 years apart. If we have a third though, we'll probably have the 2nd and 3rd 1 1/2 -2 years apart.

MWoodside

We just want to see how it goes w/ this LO.  If he or she is a chill baby, we'll probably want another LO sooner than if this one is a colicky, spastic baby.  Know what I mean?

KGraham05

Well our DS will be 3 1/2 years old when our LO comes and we plan on adding one more to the family in 2 years. We should be done after that, but you never know lol

LindseyJW

as far as the healthy amount of time, it's at least 18 months if you have a c/s with the first. idk about vaginal birth.  

my personal preference was 3 years, but now that my son will be almsot 4 before this baby is due, i have changed my mind. i think 4 years is a great separation.

i've really been able to enjoy my son for these three years and i love that he's had our undivided attention. it's been awesome to see him grow and develop in a way that i wouldn't have appreciated if i had a baby too.

that being said, i think there may also be something special about having children closer and watching them grow together.

Wendy525

DD will be 3 1/2 when the new baby is due. This was a good time for us, because DD will be going to school soon and my mom who is caretaker for DD can take care of the new baby. Also, DD is potty trained and can eat by herself and she's really excited about helping out with her little brother or sister. It's all about what makes sense financially and logistically for your family!

metzy144

I think I have heard the healthy weight is 12-18 months between. We plan on TTC again after this LO turns one. We really want our children to be 2 years apart.

winterOT

Prior to DS we had agreed upon about 2 years between children. I ended up with an emergency c-section with DS and had trouble thinking past that point with future DC. We actually had a m/c about a year ago which would have made them just under 3 years apart, now DC will be 3y 3months apart and I'm thankful. DS is very independent! I have a pg friend and her DC will be 14 months apart, and she loves the way her family is being built!! Good luck with your decision!!

so_n_luv

Eli will be 18 months when his little brother arrives.

EMWindy

I wanted to have kids 3-4 years apart.   But it will be 22 months apart.   Should be interesting.

 I couldn't do 2 under 1.  No way.   I feel like I didn't really have a really good grasp of the whole mommy thing under after my DD1 turned one - it took me time to get into the 'groove' of everything.   Not saying I didn't love her before then or anything - it was just a major adjustment.

cactus5

These two will be 15 months apart. I never went on birth control after I had my son and we didn't use any protection, so it wasn't a huge surprise when I got pregnant.

Although we want a few more children, I am nervous about having three so I am not sure when we will try again. My husband wants to "see what happens" but he isn't the one staying home with them.

mrsjenni

My babies will be 22 months apart and I think it's PERFECT.  

DS turned 1 in July.  We got PG with baby #2 in September.

We want 3 babies and I have a feeling we'll wait a tad bit longer in between baby #2 and #3, but no more then 2 years between them.  I want all my babies close in age. 

Luv2teach719

My son and this baby will be a little over 2.5 years apart.  I guess we will just have to see how it goes!  LOL!

ejh090305

My two will be almost exactly 2 years apart. In fact, I am due 4 days after DD's birthday. I'm don't take much stock in due dates since DD1 was 6 weeks early. I'm shooting for a June baby though.

KeepingItLowKey

Ours will be 21 months apart. I could have handled another baby a lot earlier, but my body would not have been able to handle another pregnancy right away.

ariel06

There will be almost exactly two years in between these two.  I don't know if I could have done it any sooner.  DS wasn't sleeping thru the night until around 9 months.  There's not way I could have handled the exhaustion of pregnancy on only a few hours of sleep a night. 

kes77

DD will be about 2 years 5 months when LO#2 arrives.  I think this is perfect for us.  We want 3 children, and I think once the 2nd one turns 1 we'll start trying for our third, a little sooner than when we tried for LO#2.