Two under two? Am I mad?

[Alicia870]

DD is 5 months old and for some reason I am so incredibly broody again and seriously considering getting pregnant again soon.
She is my first and I had a really rough pregnancy, delivery and recovery with her. But now that km healed up it's like Mother Nature has made me forget it all and I want to go through the whole process again and want a little brother or sister for her. I do want kids close together anyway and my husband and I have spoken about trying to conceive again around July, when dd is 9 months old. This would mean 18 months between babies (all being well of course with conceiving)
Is this crazy or what do people think of 2 under 2? I kind of want to do it again when it's all fresh in my mind, I'm in the baby zone, and hopefully my body will play ball a bit better considering it won't be so long since it done it before.

I'm also worried about work though, as I will just be going back from mat leave and then hitting them with another pregnancy. But is that something I just shouldn't worry about?

I think a huge problem for me was breastfeeding - there was no way to do it as soon as I settled down to feed the toddler would be wandering off and needed my attention. Had to swap over to a bottle pdq.

I wouldn't! Plenty of folk do but I have heard plenty say it was so so hard and they wouldn't have done it that way had they known.

My girl was the best baby, slept through from 6 weeks, hardly every cried and was always so happy.

As soon as she was on the move I was in mourning for my little baby who would sit and play happily with toys. From then until about 18 months were very tiring. She was just in at everything, all the time! An example of a crazy few minutes one time were: She purposely spilled her full juice cup all over the sofa, while I was cleaning it up, she found a razor in the bathroom and was trying to eat it and while I put that out of site, she pulled a chest of drawers on top of herself!

I remember having fear of getting pregnant again. She's now 21 months and we are trying for our second and she's so much fun now, still a bit mad lol.

I wld wait until she is on the move and see how you feel about it. The thought of chasing a crazy baby around while heavily pregnant does not seem fun!

It really depends on the children's personalities if they are laid back, calm, etc. But in general terms, yes you would be mad to do it.

18m age gap here, the hardest part is having two tiny people who need to you so much but in very different ways. Mine are 3 and nearly two now and it's so much easier now they're getting more independent. I love watching them run about in the park together and starting to interact with eachother more. I'm very lucky that they both still nap so that has definitely helped (I'm a sham). Also my dh is almost always home in time to do bedtime. These two things have definitely kept my sanity!

I don't regret it, they both make me laugh every day and I don't think I could go back to the sleepless nights now after 3 years of crap sleep and early starts!

There were hard bits though, terrible twos plus a mobile baby was not easy! But overall I'm glad to have the baby stage over and done with.

I have an 8 month old DD and currently 19 weeks pregnant. We planned it this way. I've done it before tho, I have a 19 and 20 year old. I didn't find having 2 under 2 all that bad, what I struggled with was DS waking up every half hour through the night till he was 4!! They grew up close friends, as well as fought like cat and dog but that's normal sibling behaviour whether it's a 1 or 3 year age gap.
Now i'm really looking forward to DD2 arriving and doing it all again, her big sister needs someone to play with. My DP works 12 hour shifts so leaves early morning and comes home after DD's bedtime. So my biggest hurdle before he goes back to work after the birth is getting myself into a routine that I can cope with myself.

Yes!! Don’t do it!

I currently have 2 under 2, with an 18 month gap. They are 21 months old and 12 weeks old. It is intense and very demanding but I don’t regret it for a second. I was aiming for a 2 year gap but thought 18 months would be ok should we conceive straight away, but assumed it would take a few months. It didn’t!

The hardest bits are the fact that someone needs something pretty much at any given moment so there is not much time for myself but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be so far. They are both good sleepers so that helps. For me, any of the downsides will be outweighed by the positives of having a small gap. I think the most daunting part for me was the thought of going through a prenancy and birth again. I won’t lie, it was not easy being pregnant and looking after a little one. I had hyperemesis both times and back problems second time around, not helped by the fact that my son didn’t walk until he was nearly 16 months but it has actually made looking after a toddler and a newborn feel like a breeze compared to being pregnant! If I were you I’d keep thinking about it for the next few months.

I had 2 under 2 and those first 3 years were, without a doubt, the most difficult years of my life. My eldest was (still is) into everything and my youngest cried all day long. The only thing that saved my sanity was the fact that they slept very well (12 hours at night from a few months old and 2 hours in the middle of the day) and going back to work. For years I felt like I was chained into an unbreakable routine and it was incredibly claustrophobic.

I'm glad I did have them close together though because all the weaning, crying, potty training, routine crap that comes with baby and toddlerhood is out of the way and I don't ever have to go back and do it all over again.

They're 6 & nearly 8 now and are very close. They argue like cat and dog but share almost everything and love to sit together and watch favourite programmes.

Interesting, but I guess predictable, how many people on this thread say they had good sleepers - I suppose you wouldn't contemplate it if you didn't! I have a non-sleeping 8 month old and I thought before we had him we'd want to start trying again around now, but DH and I are somewhere between 'never again' and 'what is sex anyway?'!

Mine is not a good sleeper but I’m still having another! Starting to think it was a bad idea but too late now!

I wasn't able to contemplate it as my 2nd was a bit of an accident, found out I was pregnant when my eldest was 9m and still waking up 2 hourly. Tbh I haven't really slept well for over 3 years!

Both of mine were horrendous sleepers.
Dd has only just started sleeping through the night consistently and she will be 4 soon. DS is 2 and a half and still wakes every 4 hours.
Co-sleeping with them both is the only way I got any sleep. Dd is in her own bed most nights now, and DS usually toddlers through when he wakes and gets in with me....then proceeds to spend the next 4 hours kicking me in the pancreas.

I found it incredibly hard ( 15mo gap ) although my 2nd was a very sickly screamy baby and i slipped into terrible pnd pretty quick.. I dont know how i survived it, if my dad wasnt retired and on hand day and night i dont know what i would have done!

Having said that they are now 5 and 6 and mostly play nicely together , its nice when we go on holidays as they always have someone to play with etc..

I also had another baby so take from that what you will ( had 3 under 5 )