Would you have had another child?

[Annabella92]

Or a couple more children if your circumstances were different?

What would you need in your life to have had more children?

For me, simply more money. Bigger house. I would have liked at least one more. Its OK, but it would have been nice.

I have 2 and I'd love a third. For me, money isn't as much of an issue as solid family help for childcare. We don't really have that, and it's hard. DH works away so I already panic if I need backup for any of my own appointments, plus I need the downtime and we'd struggle to get anyone to look after all 3! It's hard enough to find someone to have 2!
I guess if money allowed a nanny or au pair / decent regular babysitter that could also help!

I have 1 and nothing in the world would have persuaded me to have another.

No, we only ever wanted 2. DS and DD were and are absolutely wonderful babies and now children, but I wouldn't go through labour and birth again for a big clock. The early years are lovely in lots of ways, but they're also tiring, and I'm so glad to be on an even keel. No financial reasons, and we have room, but it's just not something we'd want. DH has had the snip so that we don't have to worry about accidents.

I have one and would love another but not sure I could cope mentally and financially. I'm constantly overwhelmed and lonely and that's just with one ! Maybe one day but right now probably best for me to stick with one !

No. I have two and I'm pleased to get my life back. I'd like a horse! 🐎 🐎

us too. And both myself and my husband are only children -so we just could not understand having more than 1 and how that even works 😂

Yes the though of going back to the early years really doesn’t appeal now DD is an independent 10 year old.

We always wanted 3 kids then our first turned out to be twins. Didn't want to run the risk of twins again so stopped at 2.

We have two children. We had enough money and space to have more, but to give them the time and attention that we wanted to give them, two children was right for us.

I have one. Sometimes I regret not having another but covid came along when he was 3 (at the time we would have done it) and threw everything up in the air. He's 8 now so there would be a big age gap. I'm almost 43 and there are additional risks I dont want. Im very much out of that 'baby zone' time where you can barely leave them alone in a room. A couple of years ago I watched my cousin chase his daughter (3) for half a day at a family thing. It reminded me of what Id come out of lol. I think if there was a moment it is gone.

I have had 2, but my first DC died (born far too soon). I would have liked my living DC to have a sibling they could know and grow up with, but I also know the absolute headf*ck (for me) of pregnancy after bereavement and I don't think I can do that again. Neither pregnancy was straightforward, either, so there'd be physical health risks too. In a world in which I had more confidence in my physical and mental health holding up, we'd probably go for a 3rd, but the risks feel too high now. We're just grateful for the family we have.

I have one and am happy with the choice, but occasionally the idea of a second floats into my head. It tends to quickly pass though.

Possibly if we won the lottery, we would have gone ahead and had a second. A lot of our reasons to stick at one could be allayed with money, even if they weren't directly about affordability. But equally we have several reasons that can't be negated by anything so we might well have stuck with one anyway.

I have 2 and would have loved at least one more but didn’t turn out that way…I blame Covid.

I have two and struggled to conceive, 3 years for the first and 4 years for the second. If I found it easy then I would definitely have had a 3rd and possibly a 4th!

Saying that I did become pregnant very unexpectedly when my youngest was 4 months old but it ended up being ectopic so I very nearly had my third.

I couldn't put us through actually trying for a third though so my dh had a vasectomy.

Yes. I have 3, but I would have liked 4. I lost my job after number 3 and had to retrain and start in a new industry, so a 4th pregnancy and maternity leave wasn't possible. By the time it was possible I was mid 40s so too old.

Yes we planned to have 3. But. DD1 turned out to be autistic so we didn't.

We have 5 and if we had a bigger house, more money etc we'd have liked more. However, after 3 c-sections and being in our 40s, we're done but absolutely delighted with our brood.

Hard work pushing that one out!

I stuck at 2 because they both slept OK and I didn’t want to push my luck. It’d be nice now to have had 3, but for that to happen the first two years would have to be a lot easier.

At the time, I would have considered it - but we took the decision that it was too much of a risk. I had a miscarriage between the two we have; DC1 was born at just over 37 weeks, (I spent 10 days in hospital after my waters broke at just over 36 weeks), and DC2 came at 36 weeks, after my waters broke - so a combination of both of those made us decide not to.

Looking back, I'm glad we didn't, as the cost (and potential upheaval - i.e. longer off work/less pay, bigger car, maybe needing to move, etc) would have been a definite burden back then.

Happy with my 2. 3 would be too much and 4 you couldn't pay me to have that large amount.

No. I don't have the headspace for more, and my perineum lacks the elasticity required.

Honestly? I'd be so, so happy to have a houseful of babies and children. Being a mum is my favourite thing in the world.

But that wasn't realistic - we both need to work full time just to afford the 3 we have, we'd need a bigger house, reconsider the car, etc - and it isn't a happy marriage. I didn't want to have children with different dads (no offence meant to anyone that does, there's nothing wrong with it, I just wanted my children to all be full siblings... and for me not to have to deal with an ex as well as a current partner).

So for me to have had more children I'd have needed a lot more money and a magic wand to fix a broken relationship.

In an ideal world I would probably have wanted two. In the event I didn’t conceive my DD until I was nearly 39 and then within three years of her birth my marriage had disintegrated so it wasn’t on the cards.

To be honest I am now quite glad I didn’t have another: Supporting my DD as a single mum with no support was tough but manageable with one but would have been a nightmare with more. I was able to get my life back reasonably quickly without impacting my career and my DD and I are very close and I am able to afford things for her which would be off limits if I had two or three. So I am very happy with how things turned out and have never felt the lack of more children.

I suppose the only thing I would have liked is the difference you get between two children with the exact same gene pool. I have always found it fascinating that children with the same parents and the same upbringing can turn out to be so different and from the intellectual curiosity standpoint I would have liked to have seen how that worked out.

But obviously this isn’t a good reason to bring another child into the world and I am very happy with one.

George Clooney playing baby daddy and an army of nannies. Even then I’m not convinced it’s for me… I have one.