Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Is it safe to have a child every year?

145 replies

faithfulbird20 · 14/11/2021 21:06

I know sue Radford has and she looks healthy. But is it safe? Just working it out sometimes she's been 2 months post Partum, sometimes 6...but shes just about had one every year. I was always told to wait 18 months before trying again but I waited till my daughter was nearly 3...

OP posts:
TulipVictory · 15/11/2021 17:13

@ColinTheKoala are you meant to wait a period of time after stopping breastfeeding ?

MichelleScarn · 15/11/2021 17:20

Yep, and it's worrying how many people, sue included, that can't see it for what it is.

Absolutely, and he's bloody applauded and celebrated for it. Bloody grim.

GrrrlPwr · 15/11/2021 17:20

13?!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
lurker69 · 15/11/2021 17:26

i haven't read the thread because I'm supposed to cooking dinner, the doctors told me the reason i nearly died with my last child was because i had so many so close together and my body had had enough.

HelplesslyHoping · 15/11/2021 18:13

I didn't know she had her first baby at 13, let alone that he was 18. That's disgusting. I always thought they were a sweet couple but not now. That poor woman

ColinTheKoala · 15/11/2021 18:29

[quote TulipVictory]@ColinTheKoala are you meant to wait a period of time after stopping breastfeeding ?[/quote]
Many years ago now I read that you should wait a year after stopping breastfeeding before conceiving again. Ideally.

megletthesecond · 15/11/2021 18:36

It can't be healthy.

A close age gap for a couple of kids is one thing. Having several kids with no time to recover must cause the mum problems as she gets older.

shylatte · 15/11/2021 18:54

I followed the families that were on the same TV programme as the Radfords. Most of them split up, after they had come to the end of their child bearing stage. Most of the women also said there was DV. I do think people who feel the need to be constantly pregnant have some sort of psychological issue.

Bargaincatfood · 15/11/2021 19:03

I think surely how women feel during pregnancy must come into it. I felt amazing during both pregnancies, no morning sickness, full of energy, skin looks great. I had a 16 month age gap between my two and they were born ok. I feel kind of like I was built for being pregnant and wonder what makes some women have easy pregnancies and some have difficult ones.
My dad is from a third world country where there is little in terms of contraceptive. I wonder if having a recent genetic link to a culture where women who have pushed out kid after kid makes a difference or is that not how science works!

azimuth299 · 15/11/2021 19:05

@ittakes2

My mum was very fertile - and each time she feel pregnant within 3 months of giving birth the subsequent child was born premature. She ended up going on the pill for health reasons which was a real issue for her because being catholic it was considered a sin and should could not take communion anymore.
Catholics are allowed to go on the pill for health reasons, just not if the only reason is to prevent pregnancy. The doctrine of double effect.
Bargaincatfood · 15/11/2021 19:06

That wasn't supposed to be a humble brag but that I would have been more likely to keep on having kids as I don't struggle whilst pregnant. I am fat, unfit and ugly so I find it kind of reassuring that one aspect of my physicality is successful!

Notthissticky · 15/11/2021 19:10

@Bargaincatfood

I think surely how women feel during pregnancy must come into it. I felt amazing during both pregnancies, no morning sickness, full of energy, skin looks great. I had a 16 month age gap between my two and they were born ok. I feel kind of like I was built for being pregnant and wonder what makes some women have easy pregnancies and some have difficult ones. My dad is from a third world country where there is little in terms of contraceptive. I wonder if having a recent genetic link to a culture where women who have pushed out kid after kid makes a difference or is that not how science works!
Do you mean it might help because, putting it bluntly, the women who aren't well suited to giving birth are less likely to pass on their genes in higher numbers? Interesting point!

I had two sections because my boys refused to go head down. I don't quite understand why, as none of my female relatives have needed sections and none have had breech or transverse babies. All I know is that the outcome of two healthy babies and a healthy mum would not have been achieved without modern medicine... FWIW, I felt like absolute shite for a large part of my first pregnancy and more or less fine for my second. Really weird, I know so baby women for whom it was the other way round

CrimbleCrumble1 · 15/11/2021 19:11

My MIL had 6 babies in 6 years. She had a happy and healthy life until she passed away at a good old age.

BertieBotts · 15/11/2021 19:12

Waiting a year after stopping breastfeeding is silly, many people breastfed for over 2 years, and it's not harmful to breastfeed a baby and toddler at once or feed through pregnancy.

Natural term breastfeeding tends to space pregnancies out by around eighteen months to two years according to research, so that seems sensible. Without that protection most women will get pregnant within 6 months of giving birth.

As it took us a while to conceive DS2 I asked my gynaecologist what she recommended and she said as I'd had a straightforward delivery, there was no reason to wait. I didn't conceive for another 2 years 3 months though. I was still breastfeeding, although my periods returned at 4 months pp. Ended up stopping before DC3 arrived.

BertieBotts · 15/11/2021 19:13

I'm abroad hence having a gynaecologist BTW.

ImprobablePuffin · 15/11/2021 19:14

Agree with pp's re the forgotten, brushed under the carpet abuse that SR has experienced.

It honestly baffles me how ANYONE could go through pregnancy so many times and so often but I don't think I'm designed for pregnancy as it was horrendous both times and you couldn't pay me to do it again.

Cyw2018 · 15/11/2021 19:19

My friend had 10 months between her youngest 2 and has a diastasis recti that you could fit your fist in that is at high risk of herniating which would be a surgical emergency.

Bargaincatfood · 15/11/2021 19:23

I suppose it's hard to work out how much medical interventions help people to give birth and so is obviously more common now or whether more women are struggling with pregnancy/ childbirth than in previous years.
This might not be most people's opinion, but I worry if we rest up too much during pregnancy now. With Covid, my pregnant colleague has been told to WFH from 28 weeks which she is worried about as she admits that she doesn't move at all when she is WFH. It can't be good to not be active when pregnant. In the past most of us would have been doing very physical jobs when pregnant.

Wondering1000 · 15/11/2021 19:26

@GrrrlPwr

Medics cannot stop a woman becoming pregnant basically. Other than being sectioned I think.

All the Irish women that were not allowed to use contraception and had families of 11 or more children, the older children did most of the childcare! Plus the mother did not generally work outside of the home. And they died younger.

The single most empowering thing a woman can have/do is have the ability to space her pregnancies to what works for her life.

This is what confuses me... In the past, WHY were families bigger when breastfeeding prevents pregnancy naturally? Did they just spend about 20 years pregnant on and off?
GrrrlPwr · 15/11/2021 19:31

Did they just spend about 20 years pregnant on and off?

Yes.

riotlady · 15/11/2021 19:34

This is what confuses me... In the past, WHY were families bigger when breastfeeding prevents pregnancy naturally? Did they just spend about 20 years pregnant on and off?

Pretty much exactly that in a lot of cases. Women would get married and have their first in their late teens/early twenties, and carry on into their late 30s or beyond.

There was also a conception in the 50s and 60s that formula was better for babies, so there was a decline in breastfeeding.

IcedCoffeeAlways · 15/11/2021 19:47

I was told by my community midwife a baby born within 1 year of another baby is known as a “neglected child” because of the lack of nutrients left in the mother within the first year after giving birth.

Greenrubber · 15/11/2021 20:08

BF only works until the baby starts solids in most cases so works for around 6 months as a natural contraceptive

I BF for 2.5 years

My SIL fell pregnant whilst BF when her baby was 6 months she thought she would still be covered

nancy75 · 15/11/2021 20:21

When was formula widely available? My Nan would have had her first baby in 1949 (and her last in 1971) in that time she had 14 live births & 3 (my dad thinks) miscarriages/later losses. So 17 pregnancies in 22 years. They were dirt poor so more likely she was breastfeeding unless baby milk was very cheap/free

Fallagain · 15/11/2021 20:23

My period returned at 4 months pp despite having a very frequently feeding ebf baby.

Swipe left for the next trending thread