Three of the same gender - middle child syndrome?

[MiniMinty]

I have 2 DDs. We are toying with the idea of a third baby. I've always been acutely aware of middle child syndrome, and several friends who are one of three often mention it too and it seems to be more prevalent when it's three siblings of the same sex.

I hate the idea of my DD2 becoming the stereotypical attention-seeking / difficult / awkward / etc middle sister if we were to have another girl. If we had a boy then I think each of them would have their own role/place a bit more.

I suspect this is just one of those odd things that is only a thing in my head and no one else's, but it's really bugging me as it's pretty much the only thing stopping me from seriously thinking about TTC #3.......

I think "middle child syndrome" doesn't specify the child's behaviour as such - it just means that the middle child may struggle more with their identity within the family, because they don't have a 'defined' role as the eldest or the youngest. Different children may react to that in different ways depending on their personality, possibly by being the difficult, attention seeking child in the OP or by being the diplomatic, people pleasing child descibed by NickyEds.

In summary - it's impossible to predict how it will work out within your family!

My cousin has three boys. The middle one is so lovely that I have to make a conscious effort to remember to spend time and talk with the other two whenever I meet them.