GTKY

MelissaMiso

How old were you when you had your first baby and what were the pros/cons of starting a family that age?

I was 39 last year when Fifi was born.
PROS:
I am much more laid back then I would have been if I were a younger mother.
Her grandparents are all retired and able to babysit
Got to do a lot of clubbing in my twenties and grad school in my thirties without the responsibilities of child rearing
CONS:
Harder to get the baby weight off
Diquervain's tendonitis (which has thankfully cleared up despite still BFing)
Not sure if we will have the money and energy to have a second baby

stemms8810

I was 22 when my DD was born:

Pros:  I will still be (somewhat) young when she graduates high school and will most likely see my grandchildren, I had a lot of energy to chase her around, and I will be done having all my kiddos by my early thirties (hopefully).

Cons:  Harder work to complete all my schooling, wasn't in a great relationship with her dad but was too immature to realize it sooner, and I feel jealous of my friends who are still kidless sometimes who can run anywhere they want anytime.

tarapike86

I was 20 when married dh who has two boys. They were 2 and 4 when we began dating. I was 24 with my first, 25 with second, and will be 27 with this one.
Pros: I am glad to have had my children in my mid to late 20's so I can be young when they are older. I finished college right before our two year old was born so I can go back to work after the little ones are in school

Cons: none that I can find

bornmommy

I was 26 when DS was born.

Pros: 1. We were ready.  (DH and I talked about TTC before we were married, even pulled the goalie for a month.  We were NOT ready then!) 2. I am young.  We want to have 3-4 kids and want to be able to experience their lives and their kids' lives.  

Cons:  I wish we were more established.  I'm not sure this is has much to do with age as we were are in our lives.  DH and I don't want to live where we live and I wanted to be in our forever home before babies. 

bellelamb

I was 22 with my first, 29 with my second and 31 with Lucas. I can tell you physically it was easier at 22. Emotionally I had to grow up quick but that was good for me. I am glad to be done in my early 30's so I will still be young enough to keep up with three boys.

littleredfish

I was 24.

PROS: I guess would be that we can continue to have as many kids as we planned and still be "young enough" to be very involved in all of their lives. *knock on wood*. Ready, in the sense that we had discussed it and were established in a town, with jobs, and our own house. It was realistically about as stable as we were going to get over the next 25 years since DH is military.

CONS: None directed to her or my age, mostly just things made difficult by our lifestyle.

MrsH11710

I was 16 (yes, 16) when I had DS and 31 when I had DD.

Pros: There are definitely more cons than pros with having a baby at the very young age of 16. I feel like we both grew up together in some ways. I took the role of "mom" very seriously and was very mature for my age.

Cons: The obvious cons for a teenage mom: harder to finish high school (but I ended up finishing early), harder to get to college (but I did and just graduated in December, better late than never), low paying job, etc.

Having kids that are 14 years apart is a struggle! But I felt like I had the experience of being a first time mom twice, since they were born in such different circumstances.