Time gap in first and second pregnancy.

Luckily our kids age gap worked out the way it did. For a time, I had hoped I would have children nearly the same age, but in hind site I'm glad the kids are a bit apart (but not too much in my opinion). Both were planned - though it took over a year to conceive the second one. My oldest is almost 7 now and my youngest just turned 2. So there's a 4.75 year gap between them. I had a lot of alone time with my oldest one . . . and since she started school at just the perfect time, I get to have alone time with the second one - even moreso as the oldest one is more independent now. They obviously have different schedules and different interests . . . and I try to accommodate them individually all I can . . . I don't have to treat them like twinsies. Yet they do lots of "together" things too - and that's great! I know many moms who have 2 kids nearly the same age. Yes, they will say they are exhausted!! I mean, I'm exhausted too - but I'm not taking care of two kids that are going through similar ("hard for the parents") milestones at the same time. I can really enjoy them "separately". I remember my doctor saying "You don't want to be taking care of two babies wearing diapers!" - hmmmm, maybe she had something there!!

I too have heard that you should wait at least a year and a half between pregnancies for the health of a mother. With that said, my children are nearly four years apart, but I did have a miscarriage at nine weeks between my two children, when my daughter was about two years old. I got pregnant with my son six months after I experienced the miscarriage. I really like the age difference between Kathryn and Paul because Kathryn was old enough to help me with her brother when he was a baby and now that they are older, they are able to play well with each other.

Hi sumatix, I think birth space emphasize proper planning for the mother's health and the soon baby. There were studies that if you will space being pregnant for 2-3 years, the risk of underweight babies will be lowered. And the mother's health will be in good standing too. Longer birth spacing is healthier for the whole family and even in the community. Raising a smart healthy kids will benefits the community in the future *wink! My kids are ages 10, 4 and 2... My second child was planned because I'm working and also my husband. My daughter then was taken cared of different people. My mother, sometimes my mother in-law, sometimes too with my aunt, more times with the yaya and me on my off days only. I just felt guilty that I can't give my precious time with her and noticed that she learned different manners with all of us who're taking care of her that I decided to be a stay-home mom that my husband feels happy with the decision. My youngest just came unexpected *LOL. My calendar method just failed with my expectation... no regret at all! Hubby was happiest to have a son that looks like him *LOL

Yes, it's true about the woman's body recovering after the previous pregnancy, but also studies show that spacing pregnancy 2-3 years apart produces smarter children.