I know it's not that large, but what's it like with three?!

[anotherbadnight]

We have two, aged 3 and 1, and I can't stop thinking about having another - or rather having an inner debate over it and discussing it with dh. Any pros and cons anyone would like to share would be great!

for me, in some ways the more the merrier - i love having quite a big family

BUT more than two has drawbacks - you can't hold everyones' hand, you can't bring friends home from school without a people carrier, you can't lay in bed for ten minutes every night with each child individually to read stories, EVERYTHING (not just childcare) is more expensive - for example, when booking hols you often have to take two rooms when you could take one with two kids so hol price can double (actually that can be a fairly major issue), not everyone can sit next to mummy at the same time, oh and you sort of turn into a sleep deprived, frazzled zombie for a few years!

that said, it gets easier as they get older and i'd have another if dp would agree!! at least my heart would, but my head knows he's right

DP said we should 'think about it' which doesn't mean 'no'!!!!

But practical point: how on earth does one do 'mobile?' DD is 2.3. DS is 8 months...

Three seemed easy,four is much harder,but I have big gaps and sometimes feel a bit overwelmed,tbh.
Have found no 4 hard work,but offset by feeling of sadnes as she is my last,ifyswim.

Another one who has found 3 much harder than 2.

My dd1 is 3.5, dd2 18mo and ds3mo - so I was dreading having 3 throughout my pregnancy. It really hasn't been half as bad as expected. (Still has its moments obviously). Can't wait for them all to be a little bit older though. Then we can start thinking about dc4 .

1-2 was harder than 2-3 but there was only a 20 month gap between the first 2 and that was difficult for the first year, then it was a doddle.

There is 3 years between 2-3 and that's been fairly easy as well.

No.4 is due in 12 weeks or so and there will be exactly 2 years between 3-4. I'm not phased at all, perhaps worryingly so.

KatieDD is right though, don't have 3 if 4 is an absolute no-no, because I doubt 3 will feel right.

i had bad pnd after no2 and no3 its not a good idea if you have a history of mental illness i should of realised that way b4 the fact lol

I did find it much harder with 3 than with 2 (and with 2 than with 1), when they were all little - I had 3 in 4 years.

Now they are 8, 7, 4 it's delightful. They are a great team, they play together endlessly, all together and in various pairs. It actually helped the sibling relationship between dd1 and dd2, which was rather intense - dd3 is a very chilled out person who won't compete, and she's both her sisters' favourite, so the sibling dynamic is more relaxed.

blueshoes, we both WOHM with 3 children. We had good (and cheap) childcare options, and flexible jobs.

But I wouldn't have had a 3rd if it meant giving up work, personally, I am a bit enthusiastic about my job.

It's the getting childcare for weekends away and holidays which is hard for us with 3. Not many people really want 3. My parents will have "one or two, not including dd2)".