There should be more awareness about risk to mental health if you fall pregnant within few months after having a baby.

What are the risks to mental health? I want to try again for another baby so that my daughter will have a sibling close in age and I wasn’t aware of any specific mental health risks🤯

I very much agree with this. I had severe Postpartum depression after having my daughter. She was only 4 months when I fell pregnant again. The pregnancy really messed with my mental health that I spent the 9 months in my bedroom. My poor baby use to sit next to me playing with her toys on the bed instead of having lots of independent play on the floor where she could learn how to crawl and move around. I wasn’t able to take her out much it was horrible and now I feel so resentful towards myself.

@Sophie sending you lots of love sis ♥️ Hope you are doing better now ☀️☀️

@Gabriella lack of support, PPD, physical recovery, lack of downtime and managing 2 babies is HARD. So if you are planning to have babies super close in age then definitely consider these things.

I am a nanny that specializes in close in age families. Even with a lot of support its still so hard on both parens, the moms especially. Your life plan is thrown off, breastfeeding journeys are set aside, finances become a struggle, and work stressors get magnafied. Plus many struggle with space because a move to a bigger place wasnt in the plan right away and the added expenses make that a huge issue. All of this on top of the insane fluxuation of hormones and exhaustion from being pregnant back to back, while possibly dwaling with PPD. Its a massive struggle thats usually joked about or shamed by others that havent gone through it.

@Victoria thanks for this!! Absolutely agree word by word. In my extended family, some of the women had unplanned back to back pregnancies and even though they had family support and help with cooking and cleaning, they were on the verge of divorce and took medication for anxiety and depression for a long time and also developed long term physical health issues.

Maternal mental health needs more awareness in general. A lot of people don't even know prenatal depression is a thing. I had prenatal depression ppd & ppa and I have 1 baby. Adding another baby to that wouldn't help. I wonder if mental health is included in they're studies/training. Maybe her bc failed her. We don't know. I'm training the be a therapist, but I still struggle mentally a lot. Just bc you "know better" doesn't mean you won't experience the struggle

I 100% agree with this! My first pregnancy it was just my husband and I- easy enough to rest when I needed too. My second pregnancy i was so sick! Ended up in hospital for fluids, on nausea meds ect, that lasted until over half way through the pregnancy and it was so hard as I had another- super young child to take care of! There was no rest when you need to, You have another child to care for! My husband and I have no family support around us (all an hour and a half to two hours away). So majority of things was all on me, plus I worked full time, him as well. Back to back kids sound great and I am thankful for both my babies. But the actual reality of it is that is extremely challenging. Your crippled with extreme exhaustion and sleep deprivation between the two of them. Hearing from this post that actual husband's and wives almost divorce even WITH family help involved/or a nanny makes me feel not so alone and that it is hard even for them with help.

@Jennifer Absolutely agree!! Back to back kids definitely sounds great, becz you can have kids and be done with it and siblings can have a great bond but extremely challenging for the initial few years. Hope with time things have gotten easier for you sis ♥️

I am in a much better place now, they are now 4 and 3 and it is so easy!! They are the bestest of friends and we don’t have to plan seperate activities with them

@Sophie that’s amazing! It’s your time to enjoy life with your kiddos and family ♥️