Is It Okay to Ask You Getting Pregnant Again

Assistance Me, Heidi! How Long Do I Need to Expect to Start Trying to Get Pregnant Again?

"Howdy, Heidi! My baby is 3 months quondam — and I'd like to become pregnant again. How long practice I have to expect to start trying?"

Hullo! As someone who notwithstanding suffers with bouts of raging baby fever (xxx-something years after the nativity of my second and final baby), I hear you — and the insistent call of your uterus, longing to be refilled.

Still, in that location are compelling reasons to put your uterus on agree, at to the lowest degree for several months — depending on who you lot enquire, up to 18 months or longer. The Globe Wellness System suggests pushing the pregnancy pause button for a minimum of two years. But that longer recommended wait time reflects the fact that moms in many parts of the globe don't go the nourishment or health care their bodies need to physically recover from ane pregnancy and prepare for another. It also reflects another WHO recommendation: that moms breastfeed babies for a minimum of two years, especially when other sources of nutrition are in short supply.

Back here in the U.South., where moms are less likely to be seriously nutrient-deprived and are more than likely to receive regular health care, the guidelines are a little more liberal. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommendations give moms the yellowish lite (keep with caution) on next-round baby-making at a minimum of six months (timed from delivery of one baby to the conception of the side by side), with a roundly preferred expect period of 18 months.

Getting meaning again before the half-year marking happens, of course (whether on purpose or past "oops") — usually with happy, healthy results. But inquiry does evidence that crash-land-to-bump pregnancies can somewhat increment the overall gamble of complications for mom and baby, including preterm nascence and low nascence weight. A brusk await time betwixt pregnancies tin also reduce the chances of scoring a successful vaginal birth after a cesarean (VBAC).

Are the numbers all that matter? Is timing actually everything when it comes to the salubrious spacing of pregnancies? Definitely not. Every woman, like every pregnancy, is different — which is why a conversation with your OB provider is a smart first step earlier you commencement your TTC engines. Together with your partner, y'all can discuss all of the following factors that may — or may non — impact your platonic wait fourth dimension:

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Your age. Do you have many more reproductive years ahead of you, or fewer, in which to add to/complete your family? Talk to your practitioner nigh whether your age should factor into your decision, perhaps fast-tracking your next TTC efforts.
Your fertility history. Was getting pregnant as like shooting fish in a barrel every bit getting busy (without protection)? Or was it many months — or a twelvemonth or more than — earlier your babe-making mission was accomplished? Were y'all able to conceive naturally, or were fertility medications needed (or even bigger fertility guns)? Though conceiving your next pregnancy may be easier or more than challenging than conceiving your last, you and your practitioner may want to discuss whether it makes sense to put actress time on your side and begin TTC sooner than later.
Your weight. Take you shed most of the weight from your terminal pregnancy, or are you still belongings onto much of information technology (a far more likely scenario for the average mom at three months postpartum). Extra weight can counterbalance on your fertility — making getting pregnant again a heavier elevator — but it tin can also bear on the health 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 you hold off on conceiving over again until you close in on your platonic weight (gaining weight if yous're underweight, losing if you're overweight). Another reason to expect until yous've lost that baby weight (and more, if necessary): Studies prove that moms who don't take this step betwixt pregnancies are likely to accumulate lifelong pounds with each, adding to associated risks of obesity, including Type ii diabetes and hypertension, later in life.
Your final pregnancy. Was information technology like shooting fish in a barrel, 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 good, bad, the complicated, the uncomfortable. Also important to consider: Accept you completely recovered from your terminal pregnancy and commitment (experts call the first few months postpartum The Fourth Trimester for a reason)?
Your general health. Exercise y'all have chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes or thyroid disease that need managing? Medications that demand to be tweaked earlier a side by side pregnancy? It's best to check those boxes off your preconception to-do list earlier you get decorated TTC. Something else to factor in: whether you've been true-blue about continuing to take your prenatal supplement. If you haven't, talk to your practitioner almost what nutrients (especially folic acid) yous may need to play catch-upwardly on before you kickoff TTC again.
Your mental wellness. Did you lot experience depression, feet or another mood disorder during your concluding pregnancy, or have you struggled with any since commitment? Since some cases of postpartum mood disorders tin can show upward later in the beginning year afterwards nascency, you'll want to be sure you're on a steady emotional course before you begin another pregnancy — and that whatsoever mood disorder is treated and monitored. Also recollect nigh whether you lot'll exist up to the physical and emotional challenge of nurturing another pregnancy while yous're still decorated nurturing a young — and appropriately needy — babe.
Whether you're breastfeeding. Information technology's definitely possible to continue breastfeeding during a side by side pregnancy — and, thinking ahead, to tandem breastfeed a newborn and an older babe or toddler. And many moms do, successfully. Others may encounter unexpected bug breastfeeding one time they're expecting. For one, breastfeeding while pregnant can be draining, literally. Information technology tin can also be a pain during the first trimester, when nipple soreness and sensitivity are at their height. And while breastfeeding during pregnancy is generally considered condom, the contractions it tin crusade (that'southward the oxytocin talking) tin worry some moms, if unnecessarily. Likewise, while nearly babies don't skip a breastfeeding beat while their moms are pregnant, a picky few may reject the slightly inverse sense of taste of the milk, especially once colostrum starts being produced (in the 2d half of pregnancy). And finally, some moms find their supply drops one time they're pregnant, making supplementing with formula necessary. The lesser line: If exclusive breastfeeding is in your long-term plans, you lot might want to think about tabling pregnancy at least until your infant has begun solids, and mayhap until y'all've clocked in a full year of breastfeeding or more.
Your schedule and your partner'southward. Sometimes, existent life gets in the fashion of recommendations virtually baby-spacing, or fifty-fifty overrides them. These might include a partner who is almost 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 babe itch will ultimately exist yours and your partner's to make, in consultation with your OB or midwife. As you lot think on that decision, here's another little something to think about — that little something you're probably cuddling (or feeding, or irresolute) right now. I've said it before, and I'll say it every chance I go: Terminate and smell the babies … considering they don't stay that modest and sweet forever!

Large hugs,

Heidi

Help Me, Heidi!is a weekly advice column in whichWhat to Lookcreator Heidi Murkoff answers your most pressing pregnancy and parenting questions. She'south tackling the stuff you are desperate to know right now — so if you have a question, ask Heidi here or on Facebook and she might answer in an upcoming cavalcade. (Non sure if Heidi's answered one of your questions? Check out the rest of the columns here.)