To think two under two is exhausting and crazy?

[hiiiya]

But equally to wonder if it’s notably ‘worse’ than two under two and a half or two under three even? Is there something about under two that’s exceptionally intense?

At one point I had 4 under 4, 3 under 3 and 2 under 2 all at once. 5 kids later and I'm clearly not too damaged as I'm TTC baby 6!

Ahhhhhh, it could have been, but I don't know... maybe it was because I gave up an insanely busy, on call 24 hrs, IT support job.
I actually enjoyed the "downtime" that having 2 easy kids (with plenty of support if I needed it) gave me.

But I am very aware that my kids were easy kids, I had a great support network, and things could have been VERY different.

Absolutely YANBU. That’s why most people I know including me went for the three years ish gap.

Yes I see this. But also, a bigger gap makes every day a bit more fun/less hellish and therefore you don’t wanna get it over with?! I will have to be doing the fucking primary school run for 14 years straight so absolutely not saying that’s any better than rushing it 😅

This. I had 2 under 2 twice, with a three year gap in the middle. I loved it, but I was very lucky in that I could be a SAHM and then when I did go back to work (when youngest was 4), I work in education so get holidays off.

It was such a fun time. The house was a tip, we were a bit tight on money but they didn't need much and we had fun. We just took it easy and enjoyed ourselves.

They are all teens now and get along really well (thankfully!).

I'm very grateful for my brood.

Same here. Three years has been pretty perfect. DD1 was toilet trained, she'd just got the free nursery hours so was going 3 days, she didn't need constant supervision and could help with baby stuff. 2 under 2 was absolutely not for me, anyone I know with that gap looks permanently stressed and red-faced

I have just under 3 year gap between DC1-DC2 (now 4 and 1) and due another in the spring (just under 2 year gap).

so I’ll have 2 under 2 and a 4 year old to boot. Wish me luck

2 under 17 months. They're 7 and 8 now and equally as hard. Leaving the boys with their dad next week and flying to Marrakesh for 3 days. Boy, do I need it!

I had 4 in roughly 6 years.

Aged 11, 10, 7 and 5

It is what it is. Someday chaotic someday fine 🤷🏼‍♀️

I know someone who had two sets of twins and ended up with four under two!

Two under 1.5 over here. A newborn and 15 month old in lockdown. They were some dark days....now they're 4 and 5, best of friends (most of the time) and interested in the same things, can go to the same clubs. I see my friends having babies now with bigger age gaps and I'm grateful I got it some. Short term pain (lots of it...) for long term gain. I should add, I'm still exhausted though!

I have an almost 7 year old, a 3 year old and an almost 2 year old.

The 4 year gap between DD1 and DD2 was lovely, would definetely reccomend.

The 15 month gap between DD2 and DD3 was very much hard work, I don't know what I was thinking 🤣

Currently waiting on baby number 4 being born in a few weeks. He will have exactly a 2 year gap with DD3. Hoping it'll be a bit easier than the gap the middle two had, currently they fight from morning till night 🤦🏻‍♀️

So long story short, I'd reccomend a good few year gap over having 2 under 2 🤣

I had 2 under 2 twice, 3 under 5 twice and I nearly had 3 under 3.5 but missed that by 2 days!

people seem to go on about the difficulty of 2 under 2 but I think it's mainly because of the way it sounds. Personally I found 2 under 2 not the hardest part, although the newborn cluster feeds with a toddler were not fun. Ds1 used to use the opportunity to get up to mischief and poor ds2 found himself getting unceremoniously un latched on a few occasions. To be honest I have found 3 teenagers harder than 3 under 5.

Very small age gaps are interesting to me as there are ten years between mine. There are plusses but by the time younger DD goes to high school, I'll have spent 21 years as a working mum doing the childminder/nursery/school run. I love being a mum but I'm very ready for that part to be over. You spend a lot less time parenting young kids with a small gap and I'd assume kids would have similar needs at the same time.

God you've just made me realise that by the time I finish doing the primary school run I'll have been doing it for 20 years straight 😳

I have a 3.5 yr between 1 and 2, and another 3yrs between 2 and 3. I can confidently say it's nothing like 2 under 2 based off watching friends and others with that gap! Each to their own and obviously often gaps aren't people's choice anyway but I'm very glad we have roughly the gaps we do. 2 under 2 (or even 2 under 2.5) - definitely wasn't for me.

I found 2 under 2 fine, but 3 under 4 was really hard.

We have a 2y gap and any bigger looks harder to me - the gap between what they like doing, what they can do, when they can play together etc - I'd go 18m if I had my time again 😅

My first two were 15 months apart, hard going but manageable as they were similar stages. My third came 2.5 years after and that was a hard gap as the 2.5 one was way ahead.

I would say 16 years later I adore the small gaps and wouldn't have it any other way.

I had three under 3. That was insane. And I wouldn’t recommend it. But - they are so close in age now as teens it’s nice.

I had 3 under 13 months. 4 under 4. Wouldn't change it for the world

Just under a year between mine. Any age gap has hard days and positives. If it’s your first and second it will be the only gap you’ve known so not harder or easier than anything else.

I had three under three, so a baby, a one year old and a two year old. I was talking to someone else today who also had three under three. We both thought it was easier than having bigger age gaps.

lol, as a twin mum this made me laugh

It’s not a spacing that tends to occur naturally. With natural term breastfeeding and no contraception most women will have 3-4 years between babies and have 5-6 children (exceptions apply obviously, this is a generalisation).
It seems hard on your body and very hard on your mental health. Not something I would choose!