After first born

[Xmaxsmumx]

Is it safe to get pregnant within 2/3 months of having a baby or do you really need to wait a year for everything to heal? I had plans to get pregnant straight away xx

Did you have a c-section?

Nope dead straight forward, no stitches or anything. But I've heard you need to heal internally before another baby .. I did hear this off family though so they may well be over reacting and over cautious xx

It takes about 18 months for your body to recover completely from a pregnancy, so a minimum of 18 months between is considered optimal. Obviously lots of people can't or don't want to wait that long. I think that there are higher risks of some negative outcomes in a subsequent pregnancy if you get pregnant again super quick, but few serious concerns unless you had a CSec in which case IIRC another pregnancy quickly raises your risk of uterine rupture, which is a very serious complication.

www.womenshealthmag.com/mom/pregnancy-close-together-risks

My health visitor told me it wasn't internal repair as such, but that pregnancy (and breastfeeding to a lesser extent) can leave your body a bit short of some things like calcium and iron, and that it takes your body a few months to recover this, so if you get pregnant very quickly father childbirth it can mean your body struggles to provide for your health during the second pregnancy. She said she advised people to wait at least six months, preferably longer.

Ahhh ok I understand now. Oh 😢 I wanted to get pregnant now rather than wait a few months. 2 months down .. atleast 4 to go ☹️

Are you breastfeeding? If so, you may not be able to get pregnant so quickly. I ebf DC1 and my fertility didn't return for about 18 months.

Nope not breast feeding he's on the bottle ☺️ xx

If your body couldn't handle another pregnancy then it wouldn't allow a pregnancy to continue...so if your period is back then you are able to get pregnant and it's completely fine to do so!
I have two under 18 months and I've recovered very well from both pregnancies.
Good luck!

Ahhh that's my favourite answer there 😂😂😂 I do know loads of people with babies really close together, even my husband is only 14 months younger than his brother, I was just wondering what all the drama over getting pregnant so fast was xx

If your body couldn't handle another pregnancy then it wouldn't allow a pregnancy to continue...so if your period is back then you are able to get pregnant and it's completely fine to do so!

Sorry, but that's not true. Closely spaced pregnancies can really take a toll on your body and research demonstrates it can also affect the baby.

Part of the reason aristocratic women in the past often had so many infant fatalities was that they'd hand their babies over to be wetnursed and have very closely spaced pregnancies.

If you don't have a pressing reason to get pregnant again very, very soon, it's better to wait.

Oh well, agree to disagree! However firstly I would say that "women from the past" experienced infant fatalities due to poor post and pre natal care.

Secondly, i doubt the OP was planning to use a wet nurse... or perhaps she is who knows.

Anyway, I have first hand experience of being a child with just 12 months between myself and sibling (i am the younger of the two) and myself and mum are fine. Plus I have 15 months between my own babies and we are all good.

Honestly, if you want to get pregnant then get pregnant and enjoy every minute of it!

Perhaps discuss with your health visitor? Does your local centre do drop ins? If the issue is one of nutrition and being able to provide enough vitamins etc for a healthy baby, perhaps they can make some suggestions for diet/supplementation that would reduce problems associated with close spacing? I've also heard that it can cause pelvic problems if the ligaments haven't recovered from the birth before you conceive again, but again a midwife or health visitor may be able to tell you how to check if your ligaments are back to normal, or perhaps suggest exercises to speed this up?
The fact that you're asking shows that you clearly want what's best for your child (and child to be), so maybe just do a bit of checking with professionals before going ahead.

14 month gaps between some of my dc. Bounced back every time. .

Nice link vimes, the article does specifically mention anaemia in mother and baby to be a specific problem, so perhaps iron supplementation may be necessary, or perhaps worth getting iron levels checked frequently during close spaced pregnancy.

I think the wet nursing point (and formula would be the modern wet nursing) is that breastfeeding makes the gap between children larger so if you don't breastfeed you will oftenget pregnant again in quick succession (e.g. Queen Victoria who hated getting pregnant again and again - but her children were wet nursed so her body didn't delay between pregnancies).
If you are breastfeeding your body doesn't know that you have a baby you are taking care of does it?

Personally, even though my delivery was fine I could tell I want healed for a month or two - just things like general aches and pains (pelvis, back ache etc). Apart from the child I feed, I basically feel physically like I was never pregnant now (over a year post partum).

OP, I kind of think if you feel ready in yourself you must be ready? Like do you feel you would happily be pregnant again now (ignoring the fact you want another baby, just thinking physically). If you really want it, go for it and enjoy the chaos!

Yeh I was more concerned with my internal organs etc because I've heard everything going back in to place may not be done until maybe a year. But as some of you have pointed out there are plenty that do so. I wouldn't want to put myself at risk or have anything happen to the baby if I did get pregnant so soon. I could feel when I first had the baby I wasn't healed, I'd ache if I wore pants too tight or did too much, but other than aches in my back and knees purely from changing the baby and getting up and down carrying him-I feel perfectly normal (as normal as you can feel when they'r feeding every 2 hours through the night 🙄) he's bottle fed by the way and I'd imagine the next one would be too xx

Hey hold on just a little, beside your body not being able to cope up with it that soon there are other factors as well, such as you will have double the amount of pressure to take care of two babies, and financial requirements as well, considering you have taken care of those factors get your self checked by a good doctor and than take this step.