Age gaps

[BlueMoon1103]

I know this is very dependant on a lot of things but what are the age gaps between your children and what are your experiences of those? Good/bad age gaps? Trying to decide roughly what age gap to leave between my DS and any potential siblings.

With fingers crossed our next one is due about 2 weeks after our ds turnes 3. We r chuffed with the age gap. Ive got friends with 18months -2 yr gap and the older child seems forever after mums attention and unable to have it.

Nearly cried at a party we went to where the older child was desperste to show his mummy everything and wanted her to come and play like all the other mothers... she spent it breastfeeding and also crying as he was clearly missing out ( obviously she is an awesome mother and the little boy is very loved and his needs well met) this put me off a smaller age gap so badly... thus our 3 years.

We will also qualify for ds free funded nursery hours before needing next one to start so wont ever be payingfor 2 sets of nursery. This meams we can still afford his swimming lessons,family holidays ect.

We have 2yrs 3 mo. It is great. They are very close and play together for hours on end. They like similar things so days out work well for both. We also got all the toilet training/bad sleeping / pre school time done in one go and are now on to some really fun times.

I have 12 months. It's great because the boys have similar interests, both still nap after lunch and have similar needs. This means they both get their needs met quite readily as activities suit them both. It's pretty intense though

19mths, 14 mths and 2 yrs. Its been very hard. But more the volume of them than any individual age gap. I could comfortably manage any 2 together. I don’t feel that they are crying out for attention more than any child but the are more independent and less needy than most kids I see in smaller families. I had a friend visit recently who has two slightly older than my eldest two and he couldn’t believe how well they got on with playing themselves and not expecting me to constantly entertain them. His description of family life with two sounded like hard work from the perspective of kids being demanding. Mine is hard work because there’s many of them close together.

23 year age gap between my dd's

I'd forgotten how to make a bottle.
Buying a pram nearly ended in divorce, prams are bloody minefield 3 wheels,4 wheels, travel systems.
I felt my age second time round.
Dd1's School friends gave birth at the same time as me.

I think 2/3 years is a good age gap.

I hae 3 dc. 5yrs 3m between oldest and youngest, but, because of time of year they were born they are all 3 school years apart - which has its advantages when you get to things like GCSEs and A-levels not all happening at the same time, and each of my dc leaves university as the next one starts. I mean, I wouldn't plan my dc around it - obviously might not be that they do to university or that one or another takes a year out or does a course that is longer than 3 years, but it is a nice little accidental bonus for us
Seriously though, it has been a nice gap for us 2yrs 5m between 1 nd 2, 2yrs 10m between 2 and 3. Not found any disadvantages.

4 years 6 months. Not exactly intentional and I thought it might be problematic but it’s been amazing. Eldest is more independent, super helpful and unthreatened. They adore eachother and their roles/positions within the family are clearly defined. Eldest enjoyed our full attention throughout her preschool years and I’m able to do all the things with my youngest that I did previously as the eldest is now at school. Works perfectly here

2 years and 10 months for me, we're only 7months on but so far it's been brilliant. Love the age gap. My eldest is old enough to be patient if I need her to wait for something. Can be helpful (and enjoys it) with grabbing a nappy, passing a toy, entertaining the baby.

Found the newborn stage much easier than expected as I'd forgotten how much newborns sleep during the day so I could still focus on eldest. It's also coincided with eldest starting preschool 4 mornings a week so get some one to one time with baby too.

Have to say since baby has been sitting up and wanting to play and interact more, I've noticed eldest has been a bit more jealous and there is a lot of "play with me now mummy" so I'm just trying to navigate this stage at the moment.

I have friends with smaller age gaps that have found it hard work and others who have said it's been a (relative) breeze. I think it also depends on whether you have a high needs baby second time round and no one can predict or change that. My second is very chilled by nature and enjoys just watching what her older sister is doing. Thank god I had them that way around because things would have been very different!

18 months. My boys are 2.5 and just turned 1. It has not been easy but I love the gap. They are so close and love each other so much. We only want 2 children so we wanted them close together to get all the baby years done in one go. Not for everyone but for me the pros outweigh the cons.