Anyone purposely gotten pregnant straight after having a child?

[Pitstop1986]

I think I'm going crazy, but my DD is 3 months old and I'm seriously contemplating getting pregnant again.

I don't know if I'm missing being pregnant (I've obviously forgotten how uncomfortable it was towards the end) or I'm just enjoying motherhood so much that I want to go through it all again.

I know it'll be hard work, so I'm being very careful with DH. We said we'd wait until January next year before stopping contraception again, when DD will be just over a year old, but a part of me keeps thinking it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if it happened earlier.

I'm just curious if anyone purposely tried to get pregnant very soon after their child was born.

Yep we did and baby number three took a year to conceive so glad we started TTC when we did 😊

Honestly its just hormones.
Please don’t- the risks to mother and child are considerably higher if you fall pregnant agsin within a year.

It’s hormones! I felt like this. So in love with my baby, so high on motherhood, so sleep deprived and irrational. I waited a year and it was definitely the right decision. Give this time to your baby. You’ll feel terribly guilty if you add another and split your attention too soon. Plus two babies is nothing like one. Hard, hard work!

I thought about it. In hindsight I'm glad we waited a bit, because the newborn bit was the easiest stage of motherhood that I've experienced. Waiting meant i could see the good and the bad, and weigh up when i was ready.

Not quite on purpose but it took a long time to conceive our first so didn't go back on contraception thinking if it takes half as long for the second that would be a nice gap.... there are 15 months between the two 🤦🏻‍♀️

Luckily I had two very straight forward pregnancies and births which I think helped massively but the first few months were HARD. There is a lot of mum guilt on both sides - biggest didn't get enough time just us, littlest gets a bit abandoned in bouncer/play mat while I play with toddler. Toddler is now really showing loads of affection to the baby and its lovely.

I panicked a bit with the age gap but read lots of pros like they'll be into the same kind of days out/toys/entertainment and getting the nappy stages out of the way quickly! But practically it can be tough and childcare will be vvv expensive for a while.

Not on purpose but ended up with 13m age gap. The first year was a complete blur, so very hard. But now they're a bit older it's great.

Yes, I have a 1year and 11 day gap between my first two. Physically I was quite broken after number 2 came along, and two babies was a lot but I love how close they are now. It can't have been that bad as I ended up with 3 under 3 thereafter! I always wanted mine close together though...

My Aunty got pregnant at 3 months pp and ended up with a 12lb second baby as apparently her body never left pregnancy mode and over compensated for baby no 2!

Personally I think it's hormones talking and it's best to give your body a bit of a break!

Not quite on purpose but it took a long time to conceive our first so didn't go back on contraception thinking if it takes half as long for the second that would be a nice gap.... there are 15 months between the two

Exactly the same here, only my gap is 16 months. They are grown up now and still best friends. It was hard work at the beginning though.

@DramaAlpaca that's good to hear! Still in the 2 under 2 stage 🥴

I was at in a school year with siblings who were 11 months apart, and their younger sibling was 10 months younger again. Their mum always seemed perfectly nice but as an adult, I am mildly terrified by her.

@Lockdownmummy it gets easier, I promise! I look back at the early years very fondly, it's lovely when they start playing together. We got through it, then had a third a couple of years later

I've known 2 couples do this and one ended up with premature twins. Apparently twins and prematurity are both more likely if you don't leave as much of a gap as a)crazy hormones and b)your body is knackered.

Yes, I did and there's 1 year and 12 days between them. It was hard work but I loved it. DS2 was small and DS3 a bit bigger and people still think they're twins.

12 month gap between Dc1 & Dc2, sort of planned on a whim. We didn’t expect to conceive so soon after Dc1 but we did. I do say though had I known how much of a horror sleeper, silent reflux, clingy little bugger Dc1 was I might not of considered it. All was good though, my most uncomplicated pregnancy. A little chaotic and tiring at times but many positives and a few years later very close. I had dc3 & Dc4 close together too and had 4 under 4, admittedly Dc4 wasn’t planned and the result of a failed vasectomy but wouldn’t change it for the world. I went from never wanting children to having 4 five years later .

Not purposeful but we have a 15 month gap between our eldest 2.
I know there were days where I was tired because the youngest had colic and screamed blue murder until 5am for 2 months solid (and the 4 of us lived in a tiny one bedroom flat at the time!), I don’t actually have bad memories looking back. They were the absolute best of friends, both in nappies at the same time so no “going back to it all”, similar interests, shared toys, napped at the same time at least once a day, days out were suitable for both… it worked out great.
But yes, a 15 month gap, not a one year gap… I wouldn’t really recommend it simply because I think we were very lucky with laid back kids who didn’t tantrum or resist sleep (other than the colic era they both were put to bed at the same time and slept through the night consistently at good ages) and I didn’t work at that time so really enjoyed my days with them.

I was 6 months pregnant when I accidentally fell with my youngest and no don’t do it deliberately. Enjoy the baby stage with one baby as it’s so exhausting to have 2 at totally different stages that I feel it was a bit of a blur

It’s hormones. If you’re not breastfeeding then your body thinks your baby has died. Shocking I know but I guess it’s just nature.