Trying to conceive shortly after giving birth; does anyone have any advice?!

[CrazyThoughts]

Hi all,

Name change as potentially outing!

My DH and I are going to start TTC for our second next month when our LO will be 5 months old. I know to some this might seem insane and really close to having had our first, but I have fertility issues and whilst we conceived our first quickly we think we were very, very lucky to have got pregnant and we don’t know how easy it will be to conceive again.

Anyway, I’ve been doing some research into second pregnancies and I’ve came across advice online saying you shouldn’t get pregnant again until a year after you given birth as it could cause issues with the baby and make the pregnancy more likely to be high risk.

I’ve never heard of this before, so I was wondering if anyone here has gone on to have another baby shortly after giving birth, and whether they experienced any issues due to this or whether it was all plain sailing?

Any experiences or advice positive or negative would be welcome, this isn’t something I feel I can discuss with any friends or family because I don’t want anyone to know we’re trying in case I can’t get pregnant again x

I got pregnant with my 2nd when my 1st was 5 months. Perfectly healthy pregnancy and healthy baby born at 40+2 without any interventions. I didn't have any extra precautions due to the spacing from any health care professionals and I did question my GP, midwives and an obstetrician on it as I'd read about it being dangerous too.

Good luck!

I fell pregnant when my first baby was 4 months old, and gave birth last month. We wanted a small age gap because we're late thirties but it happened much sooner than we expected. We really weren't trying at that stage, I just hadn't gone back on the pill and we thought we'd start trying a few months down the line.

My pregnancy was harder second time round but I don't think it had a lot to do with my body not having had time to recover. I got bad pelvic girdle pain, and was utterly exhausted by the end running after a crawling 13 month old whilst being heavily pregnant.

I think if you've had a c section first time, then it's more important to wait and let your body recover, but otherwise I didn't have any major problems other than not having the luxury of being able to put your feet up etc that you have in a first pregnancy.

I'm currently 34 weeks pregnant with an 11 month old. I'm not going to lie - I'm bloody exhausted. This pregnancy, in terms of symptoms, though, has been much easier for me. That said - I really do have to do daily pelvic floor exercises.

My DP is 10 months younger than his older sibling!

Seems pregnancy was easy and he slipped out in a thrice.

14 months is the closest gap here. Pregnancy /birth fine and no jealousy issues - best tip would be to concentrate on getting a great bedtime routine for the pfb!!

Thank you all for responding so quickly, you're experiences are all really positive to hear!

My LO was a natural birth and no c-section needed, she was born very quickly and I got a second degree tear as a result but I'm all healed up and I do my pelvic floor exercises religiously so hopefully it should all be ok...!

If we do manage to conceive next year I'm fully expecting it to be very hard work and to be shattered, but we've always hoped to have several children so I know it will be worth it if we're lucky enough to get pregnant again xx

Good luck! It is hard but worth it!! Some days I feel a bit of a failure when both of them need me at the same time and I can't give them one to one attention. But there are other days when things go well and I feel like I've just conquered the highest mountain in the world!

Start taking some folic acid. And maybe a multivitamin. But definitely the folic acid.

A work colleague of mine had the same idea, she fell pregnant 2nd time when PFB was a few months old. She fell pregnant with triplets. AFAIK all went well, she relied heavily on friends and family at first, as to be expected.

There will be about 16 months between mine.

When I went for my 3 month scan the only thing they were concerned about was if it was at least six months after giving birth (which it was) rather than a year as you have suggested.

Other than that it’s so far been easier as I was still on maternity leave for the first trimester and definitely had a much easier time of it as a result. No dragging yourself into work feeling hungover every day, trying not to puke at your desk and trying not to fall asleep at 2pm in the afternoon

I also feel it’s going to be good to get the nappy and sleepless baby years over and done with all in one go. Friends and relatives who have had bigger gaps have said the hardest thing is going back to nappies and no sleep just as they have cracked it with the first one.

I've just started taking pre-conception multi vitamins in preparation, I want to give us the best chance we can!

I also agree with PP regarding getting all the nappy and sleepless nights over and done with in one go - might be hellish for a few years but it'll be worth it! That's my hope anyway