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How soon is too soon to get pregnant again?

post #1 of 9
Thread Starter 
What happens if you get pregnant again too soon after birth? I know people say to wait for your body to heal. What can happen if you get pregnant too soon?
And how soon is too soon?

(assuming that you cannot breastfeed)
post #2 of 9
Well, I had twins via csection and 3 months later got pg with my son. They are 12 months apart. Everything went well, although it does take a toll on your body (HUGE difference in energy during pg)!
post #3 of 9
I had read (sorry don't remember the source) that between 18 months & 5 years was the ideal amount of time between children (their births). That anything less than that was hard on your body & that anything more than that can cause more complications (not sure why on that though).

We are hoping to get pregnant again within a year.
post #4 of 9
I have read to wait at least 14 months (after a normal birth) to get pregnant again.
If you get pregnant too soon, the most common complications are miscarriage (I had a friend who got pregnant TWO weeks after her daughters birth and it just ended in a miscarraige) - or premature birth (which is obviously not something nice)...both things I would personally not want to risk imo. However, I am also a fan of larger siblings age gaps for many reasons.
post #5 of 9
The mainstream norm is around 2yrs from birth to gettign pregnant again. Atleast that is what My ob would tell me everytime I would come back pregnant in less than 2yrs.
But Having babies that are 10 1/2 yrs apart - I wouldn't completly recommend
26mo apart and 21mo apart, I'm perfectly good with that amount of of time.
post #6 of 9
My kids will be about 14 months apart in age. I've had no major complications, but at the same time I wouldn't intentionally choose that small of gap. The biggest thing for me was my decreasing and eventually disappearing milk supply affecting my son's health in ways that proved rectifiable but nevertheless were risky -- doesn't happen to everyone, but then again it can't be predicted either. Also there is the simple level of exhaustion in trying to chase after a one year old while in the third trimester, the sense of not having really recovered from the level of attention/care/sleeplessness a newborn can demand before starting it all over again, and the degree of tiredness/soreness in all muscle groups related to supporting my unborn child before they had a chance to recover themselves -- all things that can come with a subsequent birth even years later, but which I feel are exacerbated by being so early. I am concerned, as well, as to what a second birth so soon might do to the scar tissue from where I tore with my first.

Obviously none of that is "oh my god the trauma!" kind of stuff, but all together it IS a greater degree of discomfort than I think I was prepared to take on. For some women, of course, one baby after another is great. But I think it's pretty normal to benefit both physically and emotionally from a little bit greater gap.
post #7 of 9
Sadly, I believe that when my body isn't ready to sustain a pregnancy, it doesn't. I had three consecutive "just bad luck" miscarriages after Skye, who breastfed obsessively, but I conceived and bore two children in less time after DS1's birth. (21 month gap, as opposed to 26)
post #8 of 9
post #9 of 9
My first are 15mnths apart, then right after that-12mnths apart, and it does take a toll. But I love having them so close.
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