Does anyone have a two year age gap anymore?

[Anotherscentedcandle]

Debating having a second child with my DP and it seems no-one has children with a two year gap anymore. People my age (mid 30s) all have siblings with a two year age gap but children now seem to be three or four year age gaps minimum. Is it just the people I know? Is it nursery funding or something else?

In my circle most people have a 3 year gap - for us it was about the nursery funding, plus we didn't want to have a double buggy/two in nappies at the same time etc. We have two with a gap of only just over 3 years but with four school years between them (one summer born and one autumn). It does mean that my younger one is very old for his school year as he's more into stuff that his big brother is into whereas his friends who are the oldest are still very much at little kid stage. Sometimes I do worry it means he's growing up too fast. For us it's been a good age gap I'd say - it feels like the gap in what they enjoy doing is closing all the time.

21 months here but that wasn’t intentional. It’s good now but was bloody stressful at the time.
3 years seems normal among my friends. However also quite a lot people I know timed number 2 to arrive when number 1 was in their first year at school. Presumably saving on childcare and giving them one to one time with number 2 on Mat leave. But that would be a 4-5 year age gap.

Will hopefully have a 2.5 year (but 3 school years - eldest is young in year) gap here - DC2 due later this year. It was exactly as we planned. Most of my NCT group from DC1 are pregnant/have just given birth now the first babies are 2 so I’d say it’s common among people I know. Was standard when I was growing up.

Mine will be an almost exact 3 year age gap, when DS2 is born. Most of my friends have a 2 year age gap so I feel like the odd one out! Our decision was due to four factors

1. HG in pregnancy. We didn’t feel able to cope with a small baby/very young toddler and another HG pregnancy

1. DS1 was a high needs baby and is a strong willed toddler. Again, didn’t feel ready to chuck a newborn on top for a while.

1. Financial. Yes, we wanted the 3 year old funding, however a two year gap can achieve that as there’s a years maternity leave too. By the time the second baby starts nursery, even with a two year age gap, they would be 1 and 3 years old, so financial wasn’t the main reason for our delay.

1. It took us a bit longer than we’d have liked to conceive. Had it happened quicker, the age gap would have only been 2.5 years.