to ask what age gap your children are?

[coffeebean3000]

and if you think it’s a nice gap or wish you’d had them closer/further apart?

i have a 3 month old and can’t decide whether to start ttc again when she’s a year old so they’re closer together and have a nice bond growing up or whether to wait until we can get a bigger house (we have a 2 bed) and more job stability.

also looking at getting married in summer 2023 and i don’t know whether it would be better to try before or after - first dd took about a year of trying and i’m not sure i want potentially a 3/4 year gap.

I had a ten year age gap between my 1st and 2nd, then a two year age gap. My eldest and my middle DD's are close.

I've seen all different age gaps, my GC are three years apart and the best age gap is one that suits the Mother. There's no guarantees that the children will get on.

3 years 3 weeks. The year DS2 was born was the best of my life. DS1 adored his baby brother and it was a pretty easy maternity leave. DS1 got the funded hours so we could justify keeping him in nursery a couple days when I was on leave, this gave me time to do baby groups with DS2.

Now though, they are 6 and 3, they adore each other but they bicker a lot because DS2 hasn’t quite understood the concept of sharing and they are just at such different stages at the moment. I’m hoping by the time DS2 is 4-5 it’ll be better again. DS2 is only just potty trained, I’ve spent the last 6 years straight looking after babies or toddlers and it’s exhausting! I can see the benefit of getting that stage out of the way quicker.

So it can be a nightmare at times and I often look at people with small age gaps between kids with a bit of envy as it looks so easy, but I know the first 1-2 years can be very hard!

13months. It was hard at first but now its just amazing. I'm so glad we did it. (Well the second was a happy accident but meant to be here all the same!)

I have 3 years 8 months between my eldest two, then they were 8 and 12 the year my third was born. Then no4 and no 5 were two and four years later.
There's almost exactly 16 years between first and fifth born.

13 months between my two girls. They are still only toddlers but I can see the bond forming already. Extremely difficult at first but so rewarding. I'm so glad we did it that way. Just do what feels right for you

4 minutes. I wanted more babies, but I waited too long because once they’d hit the terrible twos I realised I couldn’t handle having anymore than my DTs!

I’d think either within the first two years or once the eldest is at nursery/school would be the perfect gap. Personally I’d rather have had a small age gap to get all the early baby years out of the way as quickly as possible.

15 months. Hell on earth for the first two years then pays off in spades (if you haven't completely lost your sanity by then ). They do bicker but it's mild. It's a build in playmate, so while it required very intensive hands-on parenting at the start, now I barely do anything as they have each other.

Almost exactly 3 years. Their relationship is an utter delight, they adore each other. Eldest also potty trained and at nursery so much more time for youngest and only one in nappies. Would highly recommend.

21, 16, 2 and 1, so 20 years between oldest and youngest, I found the 5 year gap between the first 2 the easiest.

I wanted to have children in my twenties and it did not happen. We had a failed attempt at IVF and then I had an ectopic pregnancy.

I got pregnant when I was 33 and by the time I was 37 I had three children. It was tough !

If I could have had the children when I was younger I would have spaced them out more so I could enjoy each baby in a more relaxed way -not that I didn't enjoy them but three babies within four years was hard work and not a lot of sleep

Almost bang on 3 years difference between my two. DS is 7, DD 4. It honestly works well: they play together nicely, he looks after her and she adores him. We waited till DS was a bit older because tbh I couldn't really handle him running around amok all the time with a newborn to look after also! He'd calmed down by the time DD arrived.

18 months. We started TTC when DC1 was 7 months old, and it took a couple of months.

I expressly went for this age gap, as there’s 20 months between my brother and me, and we’re really close.

My two are great friends, and friends with each other’s friends, but there are no guarantees, whatever the age gap.

21 months for mine, they're very close and play beautifully together 95% of the time. Brutal with the nursery fees for a few months (well still, but even more so!), potty trained with a newborn no problem. Eldest is much better behaved and hopefully it will rub off on younger sibling!

17 months between 1 and 2, 10 years between 2 and 3, 21 months between 3 and 4! For me the younger age groups are easier and I love it.

3 yrs- works perfectly for us, i couldn’t cope with 2 under 2!
My eldest is toilet trained, can dress herself, get a snack herself, communicate well and sleeps well! She goes to nursery which allows me time with the baby.
Yet She’s also young enough to still watch CBeebies, and sing nursery rhymes with her sister
Definitely works well for us.

20 months. Boy then girl.
They were fine together when very young bit are completely different personalities and don't have much to do with each other now gey are teens.
I have two stepsins also about two years apart and the fought constantly and even went to different schools. They finally became friends late teens.
So no gsurantee of bond of close. But they will be into same things/stage when small, making days out and vacationing easier. I'd still have them two years apart if doing it over.

2 yrs and a few days between them, wouldn't want it any other way

I have a 2.5 year old and a 10 week old and it's hard. Baby number 2 was a happy surprise. I think I would have preferred a 3 year ago gap or at least waited until dd was out of the terrible twos.

Less than 18 months between each of mine. I love it. It is very tiring while they are still young but totally worth it. They are so close and play together.

I made this choice because I always feared TTC "too late" and never fancied going through it all as an older mum. Fertility issues plagued my mother so I think this has really shaped my view on it. I always prioritised me being young over finances and stability. Others might call that reckless, but it has worked out well for us.

Mine are 3 and a half years apart, boy then girl.

I think it has worked well. DS was old enough to explain things to when DD came along.

They have had phases of not liking eachother but for the last 8 years or so have got on really well.

Plus we avoided GCSEs and A Levels being at the same time and, if both had chosen 3 year degrees, there wouldn't have been an overlap at University!

There are six years between DS1 and DD, and then two years between DD and DS2.

I’d have had another between the first two if I’d had my way. They seem a little too spread out now, but they won’t always :)

Pretty much 3 years on the nose. Dd2 was an early 3rd birthday present for DD1.

Now at 6 and 3, they do squabble but it's not that bad. Dd2 is definitely the boss in their dynamic.

I dont think there's any right age gap though. We just aimed for a 2-4 year gap so that we had time to enjoy DD1.

22 months then 6.5 years. The large gap was because of what a nightmare the 22 months was.

11 months (planned). Perfect gap for us.

21 mths, I would recommend it, my two are 20 & 18 now, and very close brothers.