Calling all mums (or dads) of three young children- tell me all about it!

[Santasmissyontheside]

With two young dds we're trying for our third and final dc. So how do you find it? What buggys, car's and sleeping arrangements do you have? (We currently have 3 bed and a mondeo.)

am knackered
a lot - we have 6 year old, almost 3 year old and a 13 month old.
2 oldest sleep in same room, but going to swap that around when baby is out of cot and in bed ( so maybe a year?)

we drive an estate but it's a tight fit with 3 seats across the back and are looking at 7 seaters now (really liking the ford s max)

buggy - have powertwin and it's fab. used a sling and a single buggy for the first few months though.

have 4yo, 3yo and 20mo.
personally, id have been locked up by now if it werent for the fact that we can afford plenty of help.

thought 3 wouldnt be much harder than 2. was wrong.

wouldnt change it now for the world, dont get me wrong - but i am often pushed to the limits of my mental and physical ability to cope. and that, like i say, is with plenty of help.

that is my experience.

Thanks hana. My dd1 is two in dec and dd2 is 5 weeks. I know its going to be hard but there is method to my madness. Lol. I use sling and single and also have maclaren twin. I looked at jane power twin but found it heavy? I like look of i candy pear.

Thanks hana. My dd1 is two in dec and dd2 is 5 weeks. I know its going to be hard but there is method to my madness. Lol. I use sling and single and also have maclaren twin. I looked at jane power twin but found it heavy? I like look of i candy pear.

Sorry i'm slow to post using my phone. Nappysgalore do you work too?

We had a mondeo estate but sold it and got a galaxy. You can't get three carseats across a mondeo. Had to get a new travel system because the old buggy was wrecking my wrist and shoulder, and the carseat that went with it did not fit in the modneo with two backed boosters as well. Those were two unforseen purchases. Fortunately we'd been putting money aside for a new car in any case, but hadn't expected to get for at least 2-3 more years.

The other expense that child no3 incurred for us was having a post-natal doula. The best money we ever spent. Worth every single penny, and made the first months of my life with ds2 wonderful, rather than bearable, as had been the case with our first two children.

It's wonderful having three. The middle one has had a little trouble adjusting, but the eldest has loved having another sibling from day one. We, the parents, are knackered. But that is in part because ds2 is a very bad sleeper.

My one regret is the amount of time no2 gets with me. No1 got lots of time with me, and I arranged things so that he could have extra time with me while no2 was at nursery. No 3 will have lots of time with me once no2 is at school full-time. I feel that no2 misses out, and wonder whether that has any bearing on her struggle to adjust to having a baby brother.

(I know you didn't ask me....!) but I work part time, 2 days a week. use a childminder but have decided that a nanny would be better for us, so looking into getting one to start in January

Thanks girls these are helping me get things straight in head! I'm lucky in that my dh and i work at same place and when i work my part time hours he is off. So don't have expense of childcare. I can see what your paying about dc2. How old are yours?

7, 5, 1

We have 3 boys - 6.5, 5 (almost) and just 3.

We have a Chrysler Grand Voyager and a mondeo. You can get 3 car seats in the back of a mondeo but it's a squash and once they are in boosters it's hard to get to the seat belt thingy inbetween the seats.

We have a big house with enough bedrooms for everyone but the boys all share one room as this was their choice!!

It's hectic and it's noisy but it's great fun and I wouldn't have it any other way.

When mine were 3.5, 21 months and newborn I had a double buggy. Essential if they are close together. Obviously not an issue for me now.

And I work pretty much full-time (maybe a dodge less) but I'm self employed and work from home which means school runs and after school activities/homework etc are not an issue.

GDG, you don't find that your boys keep each other awake? We are having to separate ds1 and ds2 because they kept chattering half the night. Got note home from teacher saying ds1 fell asleep in school!

We have 3 and number 4 on the way . We have a 7 seater disco and a kia sedona (like a galaxy but cheaper and not as ugly lol!)but the disco is really DH's work car as I don't like DS1 (8) sitting in the boot . I've got a chicco CT01 with a buggy board on for DS2(4) and DD(2)
No childcare costs as I'm a SAHM for the mo (my mum worked and I hated it, I worked after DS1 until mat leave with DS2 and had had enough so I'm staying off until the new one is 3) We manage ok even though we only have a 2 bedroom house (have to finish modernising so we can move on), hoping #4 will be a girl so we can go for a large 3 bed and they can carry on sharing in pairs - no way can we afford a 4 or 5 bedroom house, even if i was working fulltime!
lisa x

7, 3 and 1

have a jane power twin. its heavy to lift but very easy to push and steer. i did lots of research and found that the twin buggies which were light to lift were terrible to push or even too small for my toddler

we had to get a diffenert car. have a fiat mulitpla which is very uncool but lovely to drive, takes 3 proper child seats in the back plus three passengers in teh front & twin buggy in teh boot. also cheap to insure

sleeping arrangements - whats sleep??

It's crap!
I love my kids don't get me wrong but the step from 2 to 3 is way way bigger then the step from 1 to 2 imho. Had we been younger we would have left more time between them.
We have a double and 2 singles (don't use both together but often use different pushchairs.
Big 2 in together baby with us
We both work full time long hours, use nursery and after-school and I will be thankful if I havn't had a breakdown by Christmas!
(However if I didn't work or we had a great nanny I would be raving about it!)
We get 3 seats across the back of a Focus!

3 children, 8, 6, 4 (bgb). At one point I had 3 under 4 which always made people gasp. Not quite sure why that was so much worse than if DS1 had already been 4 when DS2 was born...

We have a 3-bed semi, younger 2 share the the big 2nd bedroom (not ideal as girl and boy but OK atm).

Car is Citroen Picasso as almost only one with 3 proper seats in back.

Only ever had single buggy (various, most recently instep nipper) plus buggy board. DS2 just had to go cold turkey at 2 and a bit.

I work 4/days a week but (IMO crucially) so does DH which means he does as much of the care and drop offs as I do and always has.

It's fab. I love the differnet dynamics. ATM DS1 and DS2 play football a lot and DD and DS2 play Playmobil/Polly Pocket a lot.

Prettycandles that's interesting about no2 child missing out. I feel that with DD in a way.

These are all great girls Thankyou! Anyone else?

chipmonkey - we have to stagger bedtime and wait for each one to fall asleep. It's a bit of a nightmare unless they are all tired - school days tend not to be so bad as they are shattered.

When ds1 started reception we progressed from double buggy to single buggy with buggy board - ds2 was 2ish and ds3 was 1 at that time.

I am in 2 minds about a double buggy when this baby is born. Ds3 will be over 3 but don't know how well I could control him in a situation where he's not strapped in. He's very strong minded!

No idea about 3 LO's as have only 1 DD so far. Hana, the SMax is a great car. My DH has one as a company car atm (bit big for us but he was given no choice this time round). Don't whatever you do go for the petrol version it is a real guzzler so not good for your bank balance or the environment.

I'm going to need one as dd2 being only tiny. Dd1 is still quite small but by the time we hopefully have one more dd1 will be walking. Well i'm not having a triple!

we have three (7,4,2) and they are great.

It's much better now that the youngest is out of nappies and stopping bf soon.

hubby at home, 3 bedroom semi-attached and he drives a honda accord (two car seats and eldest in the middle).

when smallest was younger a sling was indespensible with middle in a stroller/walking.

youngest when a baby would just follow me and the kids around, would try and make bedtime for the older two, but more often that not baby would need feeding and hubby had to brush teeth, read book etc.

best thing is just to hole-up for first few months and try to little more than eating/sleeping with babe if you can (my hubby was at home during mat. leave).

hth

We have 3 dds aged 7, 6 and 3 and it's recently got a LOT easier. Now dd3 is out of nappies, buggies etc.

We have a very boring Vauxhall Zafira, we did have a Renault Espace for a while. also boring. we need big cars for windsurfing gear anyway.

Girls often sleep together though we do have a 5 bed house they prefer to share. They do keep each other awake sometimes by chattering but that's nice. Sort of.

We had a double buggy for years, a buzz 3 wheeler twin.

we both work 4 days a week. personally I would have hated being at home with 3 pre-schoolers full time, I found it easier going to work. Now though they are getting to a really delightful stage. when they were all tiny I did sometimes think it was a mistake to have 3 but it's definitely less tiring now.

My 3 boys are 5,3 and 2. There are 22 months between each set so I didn't need a double buggy, I used a sling for a bit until they were nearer 2 and then they walked.
We have 3 bedrooms and the older 2 share. It was their choice and they love it. They have never woken each other up, and go to bed without any problems.
I am self employed so have a childminder who looks after the younger ones but do the school pick ups and after school clubs myself.
As for a car we have a Zafira as we often have other kids with us so needed a 7 seater.
I found adding the third into the mix no problem at all, and much easier than having the first one, and from going from 1 to 2.