to think that having 3 kids would not be much harder than having 2.

[deliverdaniel]

I have 2 DC's- age 3 and 4 months. With my first I had PND and found the transition to motherhood really really hard. I then hit my stride as he grew up a bit, and started to love the whole thing and we recently had DS2. I think I"m probably in the crazy hormonal blissed out stage and not thinking rationally but I am desperate for a third child. I feel as though the transition from 0-1 child was so hard for me that nothing could ever feel that hard again, and once we are on the bandwagon of having kids- sleep deprivation/ no social life etc we might as well go for broke. My DH thinks that a third would be a nightmare of extra work and we wouldn't be able to cope. Honest opinions please. Thank you.

Found the third a walk in the park,its easy in that the other 2 go off and play together and I can look after the baby :-)

It was easier when they were younger but the last couple of years have been really hard . So it is the whole time you have to think about, not the younger years when you would expect it to be harder.

I didnt find the childcare cost more, as i had a nanny, but it did go on for longer.

There is just over 3 and half years between my eldest and youngest and we have 3 DC.

It is harder because you have an extra DC needing attention - in our case meant all the other crap life threw at us when they were little we had less coping capacity for.

As they have gotten older a big downside is the amount of home work - 10 minutes reading for 3 DC plus 20 minutes maths, plus two lots of musical instruments etc... , plus differing clubs to pick up and go back out for.

Then there is the extra money and minor annoyances not not being able to book family hotel rooms with 3 DC.

Worth doing - oh yes - harder than 2 - definitely as you need that extra head space and other resources for that extra time.

We did think about a 4th but something happened to DH and it wasn't an option for a while - longer we left it less keen we were.