anyone else very LATE 30S thinking of having another BABY with BIG AGE GAP??

[noonar]

well that's it really... am 39 in the summer. have dds aged 6.5 and 9 so the age gap would be pretty huge. and i worry about the risk of gentic abnormalities, being an older mother. which are pretty high.

have toyed with the idea of baby number 3 for 3 years and am still no more decided. dh feels the same.

should i go for it on the basis that its now or never and i might regret it if i dont???

anyone in similar dilemma or with exp of similar age gaps?

noonar Yes, there have been the odd things that we would have done as a family of 4 that, at the moment, we can't do with the 5. Bike rides, cinema trips, theatre etc. Now one of us goes with older 2 and other stays with DC3. However, the older DC would honestly not have those over their little sister as they adore her. My DD cried (with joy!) when she found out I was pregnant. As others have said older kids are also very handy to keep an eye on the little one for a short time while you run around doing things!

I have an 11 year old dd and a 6 year old ds and for the last few years I was contemplating whether to have a 3rd baby, I am 36 now.

Anyway decided to go for it last year, had my second dd, she was 1 two days ago so the ages are 11,6 and 1. My two older kids love her to bits, couldnt imagine life without her now. For 2/3 years I wasnt sure, I kept deciding to go for it and then I was changing my mind thinking I'm too old and my two older kids are at school now, do I want to give my freedom up? But then I knew deep down when I came to be say 45 and I had a 20 year old and a 15 year old I would have regretted not having a 3rd!

So I went for it, and not regretted a second of it. I am proud to say I have 3 beautiful kids......just learning to drive now so I can drive them all around!!

Hi, my personal view is age gap doesn't matter to kids, there's a decade between me and my siblings but we have good strong relationship - and plenty of normal sibling rows with one of them too haha!

When I was growing up it was great, with other exciting nearly adults to take me places. I think a great 18 year old older bro/sis could be a big help - they could take a ten year old swimming while you have a coffee and relax...

One of my sibs said how much she enjoyed caring for me - its lovely watching babies develop and big brothers & sisters are often really adored.

Can't say anything about the risks re. pregnancy.

Good luck whatever you choose!

I have had some huge age gaps.
My children asre 4,14 and 19 - all boys.

They all get on really well (most of the time)and I think that the big gaps has worked well in so many ways. The older ones really do help out which is super.

I am 37 this year and still umming and arhhing about having number 4 but my worry is that I have done this Mum thing, looking after young children for almost 20 years and with the little one only being 4 I have at least another few years of it all anyway - do I really want to stil be doing it throughout my entire 40's and 50's too?

I think I may be comeing to a time in my lufe that I need to just be me and have sme fun with my DH.