How close together in age are your kids?

Parentberries
1

I only have one daughter, and she’s only 4 months old. I’m a college student for two more years, and my DF is currently working at a job 3 hours away from me until [name]May[/name]. So having more kids right now isn’t really on my mind… However, I really don’t want a huge age gap between my first and second babies. We plan on having at least 4 kids, and if it all works out we would be happy to have up to 8 kids (DF is one of 8, and I always dreamed of having a big family). My daughter was unplanned, and my DF and I are young (20 and 21), so everyone assumes we will wait a long time before we having any more babies. His mom even said, “It’ll be at least 5 years before you have another one, right?” But I really don’t want my oldest to have an age gap of 5 years, and then the rest be only 1-2 years apart or something like that. Plus, I love being a mommy so much that I don’t think I could wait 5 years before I gave my daughter a little brother or sister.

My sister and I are exactly 2 1/2 years apart, and my DF and his siblings are 1-3 years apart, so to me that seems like a good amount of time between kids.

[name]How[/name] close together are your children? And were/are any of you young moms?

2

I won’t have kids for a log time but my sister and I are 3 1/2 years (4 grades) apart and it is the perfect difference for us! We have a healthier relationship and get along better than any of my friends with siblings closer in age. My mom had us in her early to mid to thirties.

3

I had my eldest daughter, [name]Eliska[/name] at 15. So obviously there is a big gap between her and [name]Gabe[/name] (7 years). I actually found this pretty good because [name]Ellie[/name] accepting [name]Gabe[/name] really well and doted on him. It wasn’t my ideal age gap but it definetly worked out. I had [name]Naomi[/name] 2 year after [name]Gabe[/name], which was fun as well. I have to say [name]Gabe[/name] and [name]Naomi[/name] are now very close and play with each other all the time because [name]Ellie[/name] has reached the age of 11, its more about her friends, shopping and her beloved gymnastics. 2 Years later and I had [name]Scarlett[/name] and [name]Murphy[/name]. This has definitely been hard. Have a 2 year old and newborn twins has been tough and exhausting especially with [name]Gabe[/name] just starting school and [name]Ellie[/name] just starting secondary school. But its so worth it! :slight_smile:

[name]Bree[/name]

4

My son and daughter are 3 1/2 years apart. It works well for the most part! I was fortunate to be able to spend quality time with each of them at home before they went to preschool.

5

My brother and I are 3 years apart. Its an okay age gap but we don’t get along for other reasons. I’m 8 months older than my younger half sister and 6 years younger than my older half sister.
My SO has an age gap of 14 years and 11 months from him (the oldest) to the youngest but on average there’s a 2 year gap between kids.

6

My two daughters are 3 years apart (and their birthdays are just 2 weeks apart) and my 3rd is due a week after my 2nd daughter turns 2. The 3 year age gap worked really well for us. My eldest daughter was out of nappies, in her own bed and fairly capable to grasp what was going on. I’m not so sure how my second daughter is going to cope with a new baby, she knows there is a baby in mommy’s tummy but I’m not sure she’s grasped what that means.

7

[name]Oliver[/name] and [name]Henry[/name] are just over 2 years apart, which worked well because they could share a room (as boys) before we moved to our bigger house. [name]Emilia[/name] was born when [name]Oliver[/name] was 5 and [name]Henry[/name] was 3, so [name]Oliver[/name] was very excited, [name]Henry[/name] was excited just because [name]Ollie[/name] was but didn’t really understand it. The next baby will be 7 away from [name]Oliver[/name], 5 away from [name]Henry[/name], and 2 away from [name]Emilia[/name]. I’ve gone into labor already, not at the hospital yet, but he/she will be here probably within the next day or two! Should be fun!

[name]Love[/name],

[name]Elle[/name]

mum to oliver, henry, emilia, and baby

8

I have a daughter who is three years old and we are pregnant with our second, so they’ll be 3 years apart. I was 25 when I gave birth to [name]Olivia[/name], and now I’m 27, so not a really young mom.

9

My oldest son is 3, two years and two weeks older than my younger son. I think its a good age difference for two boys. I’m 27, so kind of in the middle.

10

I had my twin daughters when I was 21; they’re 5 now and I’m about to have my third girl. I hadn’t really intended on such a stretch of a gap, but I think it’ll be okay.

11

Well my triplets aren’t very helpful as an answer to this question… BUT I am the youngest of 5, I have 4 older brothers… [name]Caleb[/name] and [name]Tristan[/name] are 2 1/2 years apart, [name]Tristan[/name] and [name]Nate[/name] are 3 years apart, [name]Nate[/name] and [name]Scott[/name] are 4 years apart and then my parents decided not to have anymore children and when [name]Scott[/name] was 6 they fell pregnant with me. I love having much older brothers, especially when I was a child and teenager, but that’s just me, I have to admit it did turn me into some sort of a princess, there was a lot of protection!

In regards to my own children, if I end up having another baby (very unlikely at this point) I’d love to plan it about 3 years from now, so when [name]Jack[/name], [name]Hugo[/name] and [name]Emmy[/name] are around 3 1/2. It will give me a bit of time to recover! Oh and I am 29, so not that young :wink:

I don’t think there is a perfect gap, I have friends who have children that are 11 months apart and then there’s my cousins who are 15 years apart and then parents of multiples who don’t have a choice. Sometimes things just happen and you have to roll with the punches, but closer is better in my experience… ultimately though it just depends on the nature of your child!

[name]Grace[/name] x

12

I have two and one on my way. There’s three years between my first two and there will be two years between my second and third. Three years has been a good age spread. We’ll see how we like a two year age gap soon enough! I’m not a young mom. I was 28, almost 29, when I had my first. We started TTC when I was 26, married at 25 almost 26. The age gap was not planned. I had always planned on having my children very close in age as my sister and I are only a year and 13 days apart but unfortunately I suffer from recurrent miscarriage. We start TTC when our children turn a year old. Only God knows when we will get a sticky baby.

There’s 25 years between my mom and her oldest brother. They are extremely close.

13

Our oldest was born when we were 23. I consider myself a “young mom” given my personal demographic since I had a 4 year degree and 11 months of marriage under my belt when he was born. (For the record, we had planned on ttc after 3-5 years of marriage but you know how the best laid plans work, lol. So happy he is here though!)

So the spacing for us is…
[name]Seb[/name]-B: 19 months
B-[name]Linus[/name]: 2 years, 7 months
[name]Linus[/name]-Vio: 2 years, 4 months
and if our newest baby comes on his edd or around there…
Vio-new baby: 4 years, 2 months.

So when we have our family in its completion, the ages will be:
DH and I: 34
[name]Seb[/name]: 10 years, 8 months
B: 9 years, 1 month
[name]Linus[/name]: 6 years, 6 months
Vio: 4 years, 2 months
[name]Baby[/name]: newborn :slight_smile:

It is what it is I guess, imho, there is no perfect spacing or what not when it comes to making a family. Same goes with gender distribution and what not…obviously timing can make certain aspects easier on everyone, but things happen of course and you never know what would happen having done it the “planned” way, kwim? Yes, DH and I did things in a more difficult way than most…he finished his undergrad right before [name]Seb[/name] was born, a masters while I was pregnant with [name]Linus[/name] and Vio and just started his MBA this fall. He works 1 1/2 hours away and attends classes near there as well so I know all about how difficult it can be when your husband is away a lot, hugs. I also know that if we had waited longer to start our family, we probably would have only 3 kids abd be older which is fine, but I am healthy physically fit woman and the last 3 pregnancies have kicked my butt so who knows if that is age related or there are other factors etc.

I was almost 4 when my last sibling was born, so there were 3 of us in less than 4 years. I see the benefits of that but it wasnt until adults that we were close. DH is the youngest of 3, he is not close with his 2 brothers who are 10 and 4 years older. I do think family dynamic as well as other factors come into play (personality types etc) with how well siblings get along. [name]Seb[/name] gets along great with his siblings, even Vio who is much younger and I have no doubt he will be very involved with our newest baby when he arrives as I see how he is with my nephew who lives local and just turned 2. [name]Linus[/name] and [name]Bronwen[/name] probably clash the most,[name]Linus[/name] is a live wire of a kid and B is very relaxed, artsy and doesnt like commotion so even though they are under 3 years apart, they do clash a lot on a regular basis and my DH and I are trying to help them work through things of course. [name]Seb[/name] and B get along really well and the older 3 attend the same school which has age mixing so there is a lot of interaction between all 3 in a social environment away from our home and there are actually a lot of friends who overlap (we are doing sleepovers next week since its winter break and the boys want the same kids to come over…and [name]Bronwen[/name]'s best friend has a luttle brother who is friends with my boys so we have done group playdates etc).

Not trying to claim to be any sort of expert, lol,but this is just my take on ypur questions and how its played our in my personal experience.
:slight_smile:

14

There is 3 years between A and E but the difference between E and I is about 1 1/4. it’s not that big a differnce or that small a difference. We’re waiting a couple of years now though for number 4.

I had my first daughter at 19. :slight_smile:

15

I’m not a mother, but my siblings and I are:

Me and H: I’m 6 years older.
H and T: H is 3 years older.
Me and T: I’m 9 years older.

So I was 6 when H was born, 9 when T was born. And H was 3 when T was born.

16

My sister and I are 2 years and 7 months apart.

17

My sister and I are 7 years apart & best friends!

My mom had me very young & my sister at more of a normal age. We definitely had very different upbringings to the point that hearing us talk about our childhoods you wouldn’t guess we were sisters…my parents changed a lot as people in a 10 year period!

I also have a friend who had an unplanned pregnancy at 20 and shocked us all by purposely getting pregnant again a few years later so she could have close siblings. It worked out well. Her kids are in school & here I am just getting started!

18

My siblings and I are all 2 calendar years apart. Some of us are multiples.

The smallest age difference between consecutive kids: 1 year 8 months 22 days.
The biggest age difference between consecutive kids: 2 years 5 months 26 days.

[name]One[/name] of my friends has three kids under three years. Her husband wanted to try for a girl. She refused because it was too much work.
I think spacing kids will make child rearing easier and more personalized for those early developing years.

19

19 months, 22 months, 23 months.

It was challenging having “two under two” for so long, but I’m glad I spaced them this way. There’s 5 1/2 years between the youngest and the oldest. Caring for so many young kids is tough, but the closest in age siblings tend to have similar interests and like the same sort of activities.

I was 28 when I had my 1st child and 33 when I gave birth to my youngest daughter.

20

You want to be pretty careful with age gaps. My brother & I have a 17-year age gap and my sister and I have a 5-year age gap. My brother and I aren’t very close, and you may find it hard to manage having kids do far apart. Definitely something to think about!