After\u00a0you’ve welcomed your first child into the world, your whole\u00a0life\u00a0changes.<\/p>\n
Once you get used to your new way of living, you might\u00a0already\u00a0start to wonder\u00a0whether you should\u00a0grow your family further.\u00a0As this is\u00a0not\u00a0a decision to take lightly,\u00a0we\u2019ve compiled\u00a0a\u00a0list of things to keep in mind when\u00a0determining\u00a0if you\u2019re ready for another child.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll look at several aspects that are crucial to you and your partner when it comes to family planning:<\/p>\n
The Age of Your Other Child(ren) and Maternal Health<\/b>
\nWhen deciding to have another baby, taking the age of your other child(ren) into account is important, as children react to a new sibling differently depending on their age.<\/p>\n
A Small Age Gap (Less Than 2 Years) A 2018 study, published in\u00a0JAMA Internal Medicine<\/i><\/a>, came to the conclusion that short intervals between pregnancies\u00a0appear\u00a0to be associated with higher risks for both mother and baby.<\/p>\n Waiting 18 \u2013 24 months will also give your body time to fully recover from your previous pregnancy. The chances of your baby being born preterm or with a low birth weight\u00a0are\u00a0also\u00a0lower\u00a0if you wait between pregnancies.<\/p>\n Dealing with a toddler and infant can be challenging when the \u201cterrible twos\u201d strike, but by this time, you will be an old hand at caring for an infant.<\/p>\n Your toddler might also already attend a playgroup or daycare, leaving you to spend quality time with the newest addition to your family.<\/p>\n Another benefit of having children closer together is that they can share toys, friends, and TV shows.<\/p>\n A Large Age Gap Waiting a little longer to have your next child will also be safer for both mom and baby as\u00a0your\u00a0body would have had time to completely recover from the previous pregnancy. Labour complications are also less at the 3-year mark,\u00a0studies have found<\/a>.<\/p>\n The sibling(s) of your new baby may act out and be jealous because they realise that they\u2019re no longer the centre of attention all the time.<\/p>\n Preparing your older child for the new baby and letting them help (with age-appropriate tasks) will, however, make them feel included\u00a0in\u00a0this new adventure.<\/p>\n You and Your Partner’s Fertility Health While many women struggle with conceiving their first child (primary infertility),\u00a0many more have problems\u00a0<\/a>when it comes to trying for their second or third pregnancy (secondary infertility). As timing plays a big role when it comes to fertility, OPKs\u00a0like\u00a0Eveline\u00a0<\/a>can be helpful\u00a0in determining\u00a0the best time during your menstrual cycle to try and conceive.<\/p>\n They analyze and predict your fertile windows with high accuracy and remind you automatically when the time is right to baby-dance.<\/p>\n If one or both of the couple takes chronic medication of some kind, this will need to be taken into account and discussed with the relevant healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n The medication may need to be stopped for a time or changed slightly to ensure a successful pregnancy. Furthermore, mental health is also something that should be considered as it strongly affects the ability to parent.<\/p>\n OPKs like\u00a0Eveline\u00a0<\/a>can also be helpful in determining the best time during your menstrual cycle to try and conceive.\u00a0 It can even be used when you need to undergo fertility treatments to conceive another child.<\/p>\n Your Money Matters You will need to be aware of not only the expenses of having two (or more) children, but also the lifestyle you want to have and offer to your children. Do you, for example, want to take regular family vacations to give your children experiences that they can cherish? And do you want to ensure that you have enough money for extracurricular activities and classes?<\/p>\n Your Housing and How It May Have to Change If you do need to move to a larger apartment or house,\u00a0you\u2019ll need to weigh whether you can afford to stay in the same area or will have to move to a more affordable area or even another city or town.<\/p>\n Deciding on living arrangements beforehand can help to avoid having to decide everything last-minute or when you\u2019re both too exhausted to even contemplate a move.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n You\u2019ll also be settled in your new place when the baby comes and\u00a0already have built\u00a0a new support network.<\/b><\/p>\n Your Further Education and Work Responsibilities Although studying in itself isn\u2019t a reason to not have another child, making sure that you have a support system in place before doing so is to everyone\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a reality that, when it comes to work and career paths, women often have to choose between taking promotions (and spending more time at work) and spending more time at home with her family.<\/p>\n Work responsibilities that will mean long hours, lots of travel, etc. may leave you feeling that you aren\u2019t doing enough for your family on a personal front.<\/p>\n It\u2019s therefore extremely important that you and your partner talk through your careers going forward and how having another child will influence this path that you had envisioned before.<\/p>\n While this may seem selfish to some, it is an important issue to address before you have another child and then bear resentment or regret later in life.<\/p>\n This resentment won\u2019t be fair on the child, you, or the rest of the family.<\/p>\n Just as with studying, having a career doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t have children, and vice versa. It does mean that shooting up the ranks in the corporate world, for instance,\u00a0becomes\u00a0less important and urgent as your kids\u2019\u00a0well-being comes\u00a0first. Family and Societal Pressures Although data from\u00a0The World Bank<\/a>\u00a0shows that the average births per woman\u00a0have\u00a0decreased over the last decades, there is still a perception in a large swathe of the population that you\u00a0have<\/i>\u00a0to have more than one child.<\/p>\n This often stems from the belief that an only child will be spoiled and won\u2019t have the necessary social skills to interact with other people.<\/p>\n It is also from this belief that many well-meaning family,\u00a0friends or even strangers\u00a0may ask you when you\u2019re planning to have your second baby. Having more children, however, should\u00a0always\u00a0be a private decision between you and your partner \u2013 even though this can be very difficult in some cultures.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo by\u00a0Travis Grossen<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After\u00a0you’ve welcomed your first child into the world, your whole\u00a0life\u00a0changes. Once you get used to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7957"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7961,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957\/revisions\/7961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evelinecare.com\/eveline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/b><\/em>While there is no hard and fast rule as to the exact time you should wait between pregnancies,\u00a0there is research that shows there may be health risks involved when pregnancies are less than 18 months \u2013 and especially less than 12 months \u2013 apart.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b><\/em>One of the benefits of a larger age gap is that the oldest child will be able to already do some things for\u00a0itself\u00a0and the chaos may be a little less because of that.\u00a0 You\u2019ll also be more apt to let go of the small things and focus on what is really necessary when it comes to looking after your new infant.<\/p>\n
\nA couple\u2019s fertility health is,\u00a0unsurprisingly, of great importance when you want to conceive another child. Not only the female but also the male fertility health are vital.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>When it comes to considering your finances, it\u2019s about more than only paying for daycare, school, and college. The pregnancy\u2019s cost should also be budgeted for. For example, you may find that you or your partner has secondary infertility and that you need\u00a0expensive\u00a0fertility treatments to conceive.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Part of the changes that you\u2019ll need to make when you grow your family, is to have enough space available for everyone. Although sharing a bedroom is easy, especially when children are young, you\u2019ll still need to have space to accommodate both in the room.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Whether you\u2019re studying a graduate, post-graduate or diploma course \u2013 you will need to take into account that you may have evening and weekend classes, not to mention that you need time for homework.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Both family and societal pressures can be extremely difficult and stressful to bear when it comes to having children.<\/p>\n