Currently pregnant with 3rd - any tips?

[Onomatopoeia4]

Hi,

I'm currently 10 weeks pregnant with our third child.

We have a son, who will be three in August and a daughter, who is 1 year and 3 months old.

Our kids are so close in age, because I'm already 36 and we don't have time for larger gaps.

Is having three children much harder than two?

Are there any tips to make it easier for us once the baby is there?

Thanks for your advice xx

From your title I was going to say.. contraception.
Although that's shutting the door after the horse has bolted.
No advice but good luck to you.

😂😂😂

I have three, although I had a longer gap between dc2 and dc3, and I think it is a brilliant family size, so congratulations!

Obviously that logistics are going to change in scale again. The difference between the demands of two and three are greater in terms of raw effort when the dc are younger and as they become older and more independent, that gap begins to diminish.

So, a good game plan to hit the ground running can help. Good routines, for you, dp and your children are key. Consider outside resources to help with the day to day running of the home if that's available to you. Don't underestimate the value of a washing machine with an enormous drum. Have fun!

I have 3 dc but our spread is 5.5 years from oldest to youngest. Honestly I think a 3.5 year spread will make the first 2 years pretty hard going. After that it should ease off a bit and hopefully they’ll all be close and play well together.

My tips would be to get the oldest into a pre-school or nursery set up well in advance so they’re already settled before baby arrives.
Try to get some routines in place for the older two so that you can work on auto pilot when sleep deprived.
Ensure older kids are comfortable with whatever other caters will be taking the lead when you have your newborn.
Look out for regular activities that will suit all three and make a list somewhere- stay and plays, play groups, library rhyme times. Places the older two can run around safely while you hold the baby.
Try to get any sleep training, potty training etc done in advance where possible.
Get a sleep plan in place with your oh in advance - who will be getting up in the night with baby/ big kids/who gets to catch up sleep in the morning or at the weekends.
Try and get away for a night or at least plan some date nights before baby arrives. It’s much harder to get couple time with 3 as babysits are a bigger ask and it’ll be a while before you can leave the baby. This bit will probably be quite hard on your relationship so invest some time and care in each other now.

Good luck!

Thank you for your advice :)

The older two already go to nursery and are well-settled there. It's a very good nursery, but very expensive. Im glad when my son gets his 30 free hours in August.

I will try to set up more activities for the older ones, like playgroups and I think my son can do swimming classes in my gym once he's 3.

I think it would help if my husband takes my son to activities or goes to the park with him to play football, so it gives me time to look after the two younger ones.