Struggling with deciding when to try for a baby

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I had my first LG last year at the end of august and I am desperate for another babe, however with my first LG I had a one week accidental slot where I missed my pill and got pregnant, me and my boyfriend want to start trying but are worried that I will fall pregnant straight away as we would like our LG to be around the two year mark when baby no 2 comes along, however we are worried if we dont start trying and we aren't as lucky with conceiving straight away this time or if it takes us longer than we expected our LG will be out of our ideal age range for baby no 2 coming along, also does anyone have any babies with similar age gaps? Would you recommend it, do you have any advice? Thankyou :) x

the two year age gap is very very intense - and that has it's pros and cons and there are just so many individual variables! In my personal experience (mine are 22 months apart) I found it hard to really enjoy my second child's babyhood because I was seriously exhausted and sleep deprived, we moved countries and I had pretty minimal family support. The other negative was that my body was not 100% recovered and I lost a lot of strength and my health suffered as a result (for the first time I struggled with thyroid issues, etc) . Basically, two babies in a short time took a bit of a toll. Juggling a toddler and a baby is very hard because both stages are so hands on. The upside for me: they are very close in age and play together always + the craziness was all over in a shorter period of time - it's quite easy now that they are 6 and 8! So easy in fact that I think I'm going to go for another now! I don't think it's the same for anyone and so much depends on your individual circumstances. Conception wise - I fell pregnant by accident with number 1 and then it took about 4 or 5 months with my dd (including a mmc). So it's quite unpredicatable. I think if you are keen for a smaller age gap you should start trying now, with the expectation that it may take a little longer and there might be some hiccups. If you get a BFP straight away, honestly the craziness will be fine!

I think you can have the 'ideal' age gap in mind, but really you can only try and have hope that you fall pregnant at the right time. You will make any age gap work.

The 2 year age gap is very common, so you definitely won't be alone. I don't have experience to offer you advice though.

Good luck!

We’ve just started trying for our second- DS is 13months. I got pregnant first cycle last time, had an early miscarriage, then conceived again a week later so I don’t know if it will be that easy this time! Slightly scared by the potential small age gap, but I feel like my head is still in the baby stage and I can still remember what to do, whereas if we wait til DS is a bit older, it’ll be like starting again. Who knows if that will work out though!

We wanted a 2 year gap, started trying when DD was 13 months, it took 2 months and we have almost exactly 2 years between them.

Trouble is you just can't predict how long it's going to take. Only start trying when you know you'd be ok with falling pregnant straight away but prepare mentally for the fact that you may not. You can have an ideal gap in mind but life doesn't always work that way.