How Long Do You Have to Wait to Get Pregnant Again

Help Me, Heidi! How Long Exercise I Need to Wait to Offset Trying to Get Meaning Again?

"Hello, Heidi! My baby is three months old — and I'd like to go significant again. How long exercise I have to expect to start trying?"

Howdy! As someone who all the same suffers with bouts of raging baby fever (30-something years later the birth of my 2nd and final baby), I hear yous — and the insistent call of your uterus, longing to be refilled.

Still, there are compelling reasons to put your uterus on hold, at least for several months — depending on who you lot inquire, up to 18 months or longer. The World Health Organisation suggests pushing the pregnancy intermission button for a minimum of 2 years. Only that longer recommended wait fourth dimension reflects the fact that moms in many parts of the world don't become the nourishment or wellness care their bodies demand to physically recover from one pregnancy and set up for another. It likewise reflects another WHO recommendation: that moms breastfeed babies for a minimum of two years, especially when other sources of diet are in brusque supply.

Back here in the U.S., where moms are less probable to be seriously nutrient-deprived and are more likely to receive regular wellness care, the guidelines are a little more than liberal. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommendations give moms the yellow calorie-free (proceed with caution) on next-circular baby-making at a minimum of six months (timed from commitment of i babe to the conception of the side by side), with a roundly preferred wait catamenia of 18 months.

Getting pregnant again before the half-year mark happens, of course (whether on purpose or by "oops") — unremarkably with happy, healthy results. Simply enquiry does show that bump-to-bump pregnancies can somewhat increase the overall risk of complications for mom and baby, including preterm birth and low birth weight. A brusque wait time betwixt pregnancies can also reduce the chances of scoring a successful vaginal birth after a cesarean (VBAC).

Are the numbers all that thing? Is timing really everything when it comes to the salubrious spacing of pregnancies? Definitely not. Every adult female, like every pregnancy, is different — which is why a conversation with your OB provider is a smart first step earlier yous outset your TTC engines. Together with your partner, yous can discuss all of the following factors that may — or may not — impact your platonic await time:

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Your historic period. Do you have many more reproductive years alee of you, or fewer, in which to add together to/consummate your family? Talk to your practitioner virtually whether your age should factor into your decision, peradventure fast-tracking your next TTC efforts.
Your fertility history. Was getting pregnant as easy equally getting busy (without protection)? Or was it many months — or a yr or more than — before your baby-making mission was accomplished? Were you able to excogitate naturally, or were fertility medications needed (or even bigger fertility guns)? Though conceiving your side by side pregnancy may be easier or more challenging than conceiving your terminal, yous and your practitioner may desire to discuss whether it makes sense to put extra time on your side and brainstorm TTC sooner than afterwards.
Your weight. Take you shed most of the weight from your last pregnancy, or are y'all even so property onto much of information technology (a far more than likely scenario for the boilerplate mom at iii months postpartum). Extra weight tin can weigh on your fertility — making getting pregnant once again a heavier lift — but information technology can also impact the health of your next pregnancy, adding extra risks (including of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, preterm labor, having a too-big babe, having a C-section). Your practitioner may recommend that you hold off on conceiving over again until you close in on your ideal weight (gaining weight if you're underweight, losing if you're overweight). Some other reason to await until y'all've lost that infant weight (and more than, if necessary): Studies evidence that moms who don't have this stride between pregnancies are likely to accumulate lifelong pounds with each, adding to associated risks of obesity, including Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, later in life.
Your last pregnancy. Was it easy, breezy, a non-so-perfect storm of complications, or somewhere in between? While every pregnancy is different, fifty-fifty for the same mom, pregnancy history has a way of repeating itself — the skilful, bad, the complicated, the uncomfortable. Also important to consider: Have you completely recovered from your final pregnancy and commitment (experts call the first few months postpartum The Fourth Trimester for a reason)?
Your general health. Exercise you lot accept chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes or thyroid disease that need managing? Medications that need to be tweaked earlier a next pregnancy? Information technology's all-time to check those boxes off your preconception to-practise listing before you get decorated TTC. Something else to factor in: whether you've been faithful about continuing to have your prenatal supplement. If you haven't, talk to your practitioner nearly what nutrients (especially folic acid) y'all may need to play take hold of-upward on before you start TTC once again.
Your mental health. Did yous experience depression, feet or another mood disorder during your last pregnancy, or have yous struggled with whatsoever since delivery? Since some cases of postpartum mood disorders tin show upwardly later in the commencement year after nascence, you'll want to be sure you lot're on a steady emotional class before yous brainstorm another pregnancy — and that any mood disorder is treated and monitored. Also call up about whether y'all'll be up to the physical and emotional challenge of nurturing another pregnancy while you lot're still busy nurturing a immature — and appropriately needy — baby.
Whether you're breastfeeding. Information technology'southward definitely possible to continue breastfeeding during a adjacent pregnancy — and, thinking ahead, to tandem breastfeed a newborn and an older baby or toddler. And many moms practise, successfully. Others may encounter unexpected problems breastfeeding once they're expecting. For one, breastfeeding while pregnant can be draining, literally. It can as well be a pain during the showtime trimester, when nipple soreness and sensitivity are at their height. And while breastfeeding during pregnancy is by and large considered prophylactic, the contractions it tin cause (that's the oxytocin talking) tin can worry some moms, if unnecessarily. Besides, while nearly babies don't skip a breastfeeding beat while their moms are pregnant, a picky few may pass up the slightly changed gustation of the milk, peculiarly one time colostrum starts existence produced (in the 2nd one-half of pregnancy). And finally, some moms find their supply drops one time they're pregnant, making supplementing with formula necessary. The bottom line: If exclusive breastfeeding is in your long-term plans, yous might want to think about tabling pregnancy at least until your baby has begun solids, and perhaps until y'all've clocked in a total year of breastfeeding or more.
Your schedule and your partner'due south. Sometimes, existent life gets in the way of recommendations nigh babe-spacing, or even overrides them. These might include a partner who is about to deploy or is coming home during a express window, or the demands of school or career schedules.

The decision of when (and whether) to scratch that baby itch will ultimately be yours and your partner'southward to make, in consultation with your OB or midwife. Equally you think on that determination, here'due south another little something to retrieve most — that petty something you're probably cuddling (or feeding, or changing) right at present. I've said it before, and I'll say it every gamble I get: Stop and odour the babies … because they don't stay that small and sweet forever!

Big hugs,

Heidi

Help Me, Heidi!is a weekly advice column in whichWhat to Expectcreator Heidi Murkoff answers your almost pressing pregnancy and parenting questions. She's tackling the stuff you are desperate to know correct at present — so if you take a question, inquire Heidi here or on Facebook and she might answer in an upcoming column. (Not sure if Heidi's answered i of your questions? Check out the rest of the columns here.)