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Original poster

Siblings with close birthdays?

19 replies

MMama18 · 22/04/2019 14:21

DH and I are starting TTC DC#2, however if we start this month the due date looks to be around 20th Jan. This doesn’t seem to bother DH (he works, I’m SAHM) but it worries me a bit.
DD birthday is 31st Jan and she was 4 weeks early. My birthday is early November, DH is early December and then there’s obviously Christmas plus 6 other family birthdays all within those few months too. Am I going to regret having DC#2 in such a busy time? What are your experiences with DC with close birthdays or birthdays close to Christmas? (As if DC#2 is early as DD was it could even be a Christmas baby!)
Would you miss a month of TTC to get a Feb due date? (However early baby could still mean Jan birthday...!!!)
Or should I just stop overthinking this and try not to plan every finite part of my life 😫😂

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birdling · 22/04/2019 20:23

Two of my dc have birthdays 3 days apart. I try to treat them separately, although the youngest is too young to understand at the moment. I would have preferred a larger gap, but younger was 5 weeks early, so couldn't be helped.

Hoppinggreen · 22/04/2019 20:26

I have 1 week between my dc (and 4 years)
One 2 days before Xmas and the other 1 the week before
Expensive, busy and inconvenient but we make the best of it and they’ve always had great parties with lots of friends coming

LegoPeopleEverywhere · 22/04/2019 20:53

Mine have birthdays a couple of weeks apart (with a couple of years between them). They don't seem to mind, only downside is the cost!

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Original poster

MMama18 · 22/04/2019 21:07

Thank you guys, I know it’s something you can’t exactly plan, and obviously you make it work if it happens but would you change it if you could? DH thinks I’m crazy for thinking it but I am sort of an over thinker/planner/control freak!

OP posts:

SmokeAndBone · 22/04/2019 21:12

My DCs have just one day between their birthdays. It's been lovely, a time of year for celebrations and parties. Not a problem at all .
Good luck TTC, OP

PaintBySticker · 22/04/2019 21:17

My children’s birthdays are 4 days apart (their due dates were 1 day apart). It’s good. They’re in the summer and we try to take our family holiday that week if we can. We currently alternate parties so they haven’t had a party the same year yet.

As someone who’s struggled to conceive it’s not something I would give a thought to.

Good luck

BackforGood · 23/04/2019 00:00

Unless you stopped contraception and conceived straight away with dc1, and even then, tbh I really wouldn't worry about it. It is nice if they are spread out a bit, but TTC is so 'not' a measured thing, it really isn't something I'd worry about. There are all sorts of reasons why this month or that month are better or worse times to have your birthday, but babies just aren't that predictable.

At various times, I've been pleased with all my dc's birth months and at various time wished they'd been born in different months. Not something worth planning your life around.

Starryskiesinthesky · 23/04/2019 00:03

My children's birthdays are 1 day apart - and 2 years. I hate it! I think the first day we do all the party celebrations, all the rellies come round etc and then we do it all again the next day! I always do my best to make it just as good the second day but it really isnt! We have alldone it the day before and it is just on repeat!

Not saying try to plan it around but .... it's not great! I wish they had been born on the same day but they dont!

TigerQuoll · 23/04/2019 02:46

I think it would be better to have the birthdays near each other. You can reuse all of the baby clothes from your first child (as it will be the same season at each age) and there's the opportunity to have combined birthdays for them both. Eg you can offer they can have individual house parties (cheaper) or a combined party taking a few friends each to dinner or an amusement park.

Original poster

MMama18 · 23/04/2019 08:22

@BackforGood I’m not on any contraception, and this would be my fourth pregnancy, the other three I got pregnant on the first try (first two ended in MC) so I know chances of conceiving first time aren’t great but it’s something I need to be prepared for if it was to happen again.
I’ve post in parenting and conception to try and get a spread of advice from those with DC close together and those TTC and had lots of replies, there’s only one person who’s said it’s awful, so I think I’m going to try not to worry about it and try not to be a complete CF like I was with DD pregnancy. (I should know better, she was a month early!)

OP posts:

Ding3kids · 23/04/2019 22:33

I've got 3 kids the eldest 2 are born in Jan 5 days apart (and 2 years) and my youngest is 2 years and 2 weeks later. It really bugged me at first but I'm slowly getting used to it (they're only 2, 4 and 6). It can be difficult to get motivated to get all prepared after Christmas for one birthday then the next (my middle) I struggle but get there to give him a good birthday then 2 weeks feels like a big gap for birthdays.
All clothes have been perfect for seasons and they're just used to that time of year being birthdays. It helps that it's also in age order so eldest birthday first, then middle, then youngest

winewolfhowls · 23/04/2019 22:37

Mine are two days apart. It isn't a bother, perhaps when they are more expensive teens!

shouldwestayorshouldwego · 23/04/2019 22:45

Two of mine are a few weeks apart and it is fine - some joint parties some individual. They never moan about the closeness of their birthdays, they do though moan about the injustice of another sibling having a birthday in a more clement season. You will probably never win, if siblings want to moan about something they will do!

CookieSwirlC · 23/04/2019 22:48

Dd2 was born 5 days before dd1’s 4th birthday. I don’t mind them being close together so far, apart from the expense! It’s just a lot of cake to get through.

cikecaka · 23/04/2019 22:55

3 of my DCs have birthdays spread over 6 days of the one week, Banners go up for the week, when they were smaller, they each got a present (nothing major) on each Birthday.

MagnusMama · 23/04/2019 23:00

Well, going against the grain here, my two are two days apart and it's awful!
I work full-time, so rarely have chance to get things ready as I'd like. I do plan what to get them months earlier, because their birthdays are just after Christmas and everything good has sold out! But they rarely get parties because it's so rushed and stressful and no-one give a stuff about birthdays in January

MagnusMama · 23/04/2019 23:02

Oh god, yes- the cake! It's coming out of our ears at that time of year. I never dare make a "test" cake as then there really would be buckets of the stuff to get through, so they're never perfect either

shouldwestayorshouldwego · 23/04/2019 23:10

Ah MagnusMama you need a fake cake and bring it out for both parties, annoying the parents of the first party who don't get any cake. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3567458-To-think-this-is-poor-form-bordering-on-a-bit-cruel-Child-s-birthday-cake

MagnusMama · 24/04/2019 00:25

Haha! Yes I saw that thread earlier!

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