How Long Should You Wait Before Getting Pregnant Again

Help Me, Heidi! How Long Do I Demand to Wait to Showtime Trying to Get Pregnant Again?

"Hi, Heidi! My baby is 3 months erstwhile — and I'd similar to get meaning again. How long practise I have to wait to start trying?"

Hi! As someone who still suffers with bouts of raging baby fever (xxx-something years afterward the nascence of my second and concluding 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 to the lowest degree for several months — depending on who you enquire, up to 18 months or longer. The World Wellness Organization suggests pushing the pregnancy pause button for a minimum of two years. But that longer recommended expect time reflects the fact that moms in many parts of the world don't go the nourishment or wellness care their bodies need to physically recover from one pregnancy and prepare for another. It also reflects another WHO recommendation: that moms breastfeed babies for a minimum of two years, peculiarly when other sources of diet are in brusk supply.

Back here in the U.S., where moms are less likely to be seriously food-deprived and are more than probable to receive regular health intendance, the guidelines are a little more than liberal. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommendations give moms the yellow light (keep with caution) on adjacent-round babe-making at a minimum of 6 months (timed from commitment of 1 baby to the conception of the next), with a roundly preferred wait period of 18 months.

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

Are the numbers all that matter? Is timing really everything when information technology comes to the salubrious spacing of pregnancies? Definitely not. Every adult female, like every pregnancy, is dissimilar — which is why a conversation with your OB provider is a smart outset stride before you start your TTC engines. Together with your partner, you can discuss all of the following factors that may — or may not — impact your ideal look time:

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Your historic period. Do yous have many more reproductive years ahead of y'all, or fewer, in which to add together to/complete your family? Talk to your practitioner about whether your age should factor into your decision, possibly fast-tracking your adjacent TTC efforts.
Your fertility history. Was getting pregnant as easy as getting busy (without protection)? Or was information technology many months — or a year or more — earlier your baby-making mission was achieved? Were you able to conceive naturally, or were fertility medications needed (or even bigger fertility guns)? Though conceiving your adjacent pregnancy may be easier or more than challenging than conceiving your last, you and your practitioner may want to discuss whether information technology makes sense to put extra time on your side and begin TTC sooner than later on.
Your weight. Have you shed most of the weight from your concluding pregnancy, or are you still property onto much of it (a far more probable scenario for the boilerplate mom at 3 months postpartum). Actress weight tin weigh on your fertility — making getting pregnant again a heavier lift — but it tin also bear on the wellness of your next pregnancy, adding extra risks (including of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, preterm labor, having a too-big baby, having a C-section). Your practitioner may recommend that yous hold off on conceiving again until you close in on your platonic weight (gaining weight if y'all're underweight, losing if you're overweight). Another reason to wait until yous've lost that baby weight (and more, if necessary): Studies show that moms who don't take this step between pregnancies are likely to accumulate lifelong pounds with each, calculation to associated risks of obesity, including Type two diabetes and hypertension, afterward in life.
Your last pregnancy. Was it piece of cake, breezy, a not-then-perfect tempest of complications, or somewhere in between? While every pregnancy is different, fifty-fifty for the aforementioned mom, pregnancy history has a way of repeating itself — the adept, bad, the complicated, the uncomfortable. Also of import to consider: Have you completely recovered from your last pregnancy and delivery (experts phone call the get-go few months postpartum The Fourth Trimester for a reason)?
Your full general health. Do y'all have chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes or thyroid disease that need managing? Medications that need to exist tweaked before a next pregnancy? It's best to check those boxes off your preconception to-do list before you get busy TTC. Something else to gene in: whether you've been faithful about standing to take your prenatal supplement. If you haven't, talk to your practitioner about what nutrients (specially folic acid) you may need to play catch-upwards on before yous start TTC once more.
Your mental health. Did you feel low, anxiety or another mood disorder during your last pregnancy, or have you struggled with whatsoever since delivery? Since some cases of postpartum mood disorders can show up later in the first year after birth, yous'll want to be sure you're on a steady emotional course before yous begin another pregnancy — and that whatsoever mood disorder is treated and monitored. Likewise think virtually whether you'll be up to the physical and emotional challenge of nurturing some other pregnancy while you're still busy nurturing a young — and appropriately needy — baby.
Whether you're breastfeeding. It'south definitely possible to proceed breastfeeding during a side by side pregnancy — and, thinking ahead, to tandem breastfeed a newborn and an older infant or toddler. And many moms do, successfully. Others may encounter unexpected problems breastfeeding in one case they're expecting. For one, breastfeeding while pregnant can exist draining, literally. It tin also be a hurting during the first trimester, when nipple soreness and sensitivity are at their height. And while breastfeeding during pregnancy is generally considered safe, the contractions it tin can cause (that'due south the oxytocin talking) can worry some moms, if unnecessarily. Too, while most babies don't skip a breastfeeding beat while their moms are significant, a picky few may pass up the slightly changed taste of the milk, especially once colostrum starts being produced (in the 2d half of pregnancy). And finally, some moms find their supply drops once they're pregnant, making supplementing with formula necessary. The bottom line: If exclusive breastfeeding is in your long-term plans, you might want to retrieve almost tabling pregnancy at least until your baby has begun solids, and peradventure until yous've clocked in a total year of breastfeeding or more than.
Your schedule and your partner'due south. Sometimes, real life gets in the way of recommendations nigh babe-spacing, or even overrides them. These might include a partner who is most to deploy or is coming abode during a limited 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. As you think on that determination, here's another little something to recollect nearly — that fiddling something you're probably cuddling (or feeding, or changing) correct at present. I've said it earlier, and I'll say it every adventure I get: End and aroma the babies … because they don't stay that small and sugariness forever!

Big hugs,

Heidi

Help Me, Heidi!is a weekly advice column in whichWhat to Expectcreator Heidi Murkoff answers your nearly pressing pregnancy and parenting questions. She'due south tackling the stuff you lot are desperate to know right now — so if you lot have a question, ask Heidi hither or on Facebook and she might answer in an upcoming column. (Not sure if Heidi'southward answered ane of your questions? Cheque out the rest of the columns here.)