Pregnant again after a decade

[mayinthesun]

Just found out I'm pregnant. It's been 11 years since my last baby who was born early summer but this will be late October.

It's really early days, but I genuinely can't remember what I would need beyond the obvious and anything particularly for a winter newborn. Any suggestions welcome!

If anyone has any tips in managing a decade age gap too, I'd love to hear.

If helpful, I'll be breastfeeding so no need for sterilising and bottles

Congratulations 🥳

I have an 8 year age gap and the only thing I can think to suggest is dedicate 1-1 time with your eldest! The baby will get lots of 1-1 while your older child is at school, but the eldest won't have any time with you without the baby around unless it's specifically planned.

Thank you for this. It's something I'm definitely mindful of to make sure my oldest child feels safe and included.

The hardest thing I found was they were always at different stages. When DS was a young baby, DD needed lifts to afterschool clubs and parties. It always felt like I couldn’t get a routine in place for DS.
it’s really important to make special 121 time with the eldest.
Also don’t burden the eldest with lots of jobs constantly or responsibilities, like watching baby while you do x y z.

Ah congratulations! It's been over a decade since my last DC so I won't try and make suggestions for stuff you might need but I have 13 years between my DC and it's lovely. My oldest says it's the best of both worlds, they've each had time as "the only child" but also have a sibling. They get on well and have things they do together (mostly video games!) although they have bickered occasionally.

Don't think I'd have another now though!

This is so lovely. I never thought of it like this but it makes loads of sense. Makes me feel a lot more confident.

Does anyone who has comment have any suggestions on when to tell son? Assuming most would say after 12 week scan?

You really don’t need much! Boobs, baby gros and nappies. Plus a car seat, pram or sling. I loved my next to me crib too. I did like fleece all in one to go over the baby gro on the school runs.

As for telling your son I’d wait til you’ve had your scan and things are confirmed.

Mine are 14 years apart and 6 year ( middle to the youngest ) apart and in many ways was much easier . Do not over think to much . You will be ok

I waited until after 12 week scan and done a treasure hunt type thing with my dd - clues everywhere with a big sister t shirt at the end (you can buy the clue cards on etsy) she loved it!

We told ours early on. But they also knew pregnancy didn’t always equal a baby, so also knew about scans and checks. I figured they would notice I was upset if I had a mc and due to previous health issues they’d be more worried by that. So knowing made sense. They were 8/11 when I was pregnant with number 3.

I have a 10 year gap between my 2 sons.
I’ve been raising kids FOR EVER!
Love it. They are 16 and 26 now and pretty close, though the adult isn’t living at home.
It’s had challenges but probably just different to those with very close gaps.

Yes that’s what we did. Mostly so we knew things would likely turn out well and also fewer months to wait.

I had a ten year gap with my youngest, it was an absolute breeze, I was so chilled with him and he went everywhere with us. He’s an adult now and his older siblings are fantastic with him, he often goes to them for advice and they spend a lot of time together. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Regarding baby stuff I just bought things as I needed them.

Thank you everyone. It's really lovely to hear of people having good experiences of a big age gap. It makes my anxieties a lot easier to manage because I've been focusing on all the stories of it being a terrible idea.