Is 5 months post childbirth too soon to try for baby 2?

[Littlefoxy]

I'm 36 I've had one mmc & now mother to a 5 month old. We want a second baby, maybe more but I'm unsure when to start trying again. My partner wants to start immediately, he's worried about my age. I've had some mental health problems related to traumatic birth & feeling much better but a little anxious at being pregnant again so soon. What's the pros/cons of different age gaps? Are we crazy to be risking 2 under 2?

I have a couple of friends who got pregnant again within 6-10 months of having their first baby.

Both really struggled and both admit they were probably on the verge of (if not suffering from) PND.

If you have doubts I would wait a bit.

I have a 5 month old and am 7 weeks pregnant. I had a difficult time after the birth but is not something that is likely to happen again.

We choose to try for a second as it took nearly a year to fall with the first and wanted a small gap. We both felt we could cope with the minimum gap if it happened. Was a bit shocked when it happened so quickly, just getting over the shock now.

Please speak to gp about c-section recovery/potential risk of pregnancy soon after.

Decide what the minimum age gap you want and don't start trying until you've reached it

Do try the counselling I seen the mat phycologist while pregnant with ds2 it really helped especially when my labour did go wrong again because everyone else told me it would be fine but I had went through the what if's with her so I knew when it went wrong I wanted an emcs immediately and had it im my notes I didn't want to wait in hours of pain and end up in theatre anyway.

I have an 11 month gap between me and my brother....my mum always said wait till the first can walk, I'm not sure why. Me and my brother started walking at the same time...either he walked very early or I was lazy haha

I have a 22.5 month gap and have found it very tough. I was told by a midwife your body should be given at least the duration of the previous pregnancy to recover before the next pregnancy, so 9 months in most cases. This is wise advice imo, I think anything less than 18 months between DC is really, really hard, not only because the first DC is still tiny and needs constant attention, is likely to still be waking at night, but also because you haven't had much time to recover from the previous pregnancy and birth and also to adapt to being a mum. Having had psychosis means you should take even more care of yourself than any new mum should. I would wait until you feel totally well and 100% happy at the thought of being pregnant again.

I had a bigger gap but pregnancy number 2 was twins so 3 children under 2 years.

Something to consider

I fell pregnant with dc2 when dc1 was 5.5 months old.
It took 3 years to get pregnant first time so I didnt want to wait, sods law I fell pregnant 2 weeks later!
A planned section is such a difference experience and I found that made it all manageable. I personally loved the smaller age gap and that was with my dc1 being very high needs velcro baby.
Its so hard as it could take months or years to even get pregnant .
Do what you feel is right for your family

just wanted to add that I was told (a few years ago) that it takes 18 months after you give birth for your mineral levels to return to normal.
You might want to check this out in case you're recommended to take extra supplements.