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Once the first kid starts sleeping through the night, it gets so much easier!!

I just got lucky and my first was an amazing sleeper, so we had 2 under 2 (LO1 was 20.5 months when LO2 was born). We decided to go for a third even though LO2 was a terrible sleeper. He still sometimes wakes up once a night at 15 months, but LO3 will be here in May.

I try to tell myself that the baby years are relatively short. The transition to 2 was pretty rough at the beginning, but after a couple months, it got better.

I told myself that I wouldn't think about another babe until I'd slept full nights for a year.... and then I threw it out the window when DS was 18 mo . My mother told me that I didn't sleep through the night till my younger brother did (and he is 3 years younger than me) and I decided that I didn't really want to wait that long to have #2.

I'm sure that I'll have a very rough newborn time with a toddler who is still waking up once a night, but I'm hoping that having that deadline helps me really focus on getting DS to sleep as he should. I've got 20 weeks left haha

Also, it sounds like you're going through a sleep regression like we did a couple months ago. It will get better!

We have a 2 year old that still wakes most nights, and a 4 month old that sleeps 10 hour stretches most nights. We are very fortunate that #2 is giving us a break while we still await the day that #1 sleeps through the night more often than not. That said, we went with the theory that let's get all this rough stuff out of the way now, and then we will be done with it all sooner instead of spreading it out. I'm so used to not sleeping at this point that it isn't really an issue anymore - DH on the other hand... I take on most of the night waking because he is grumpier than the kids when he has to get up more than once.

@lilyofthewest I feel the same way and it makes me sad My son is 14 months, not a good sleeper. I am exhausted and just so overwhelmed every day, so behind at work, house a wreck, etc. I love him but I'm just so tired. He was an incredibly difficult baby with horrific reflux, colic, mspi, etc. which is still an ongoing struggle. I truly don't know how I'd handle a baby with those issue and an older child too.

My husband is 42 so I feel you on the clock thing. We had infertility and took us almost a year to have LO. I don't feel like we have time to wait til he's 3 and start TTC which may take a year so I don't know what we're gonna do.

By accident??

Once I was pregnant with our second and even more exhausted, my husband took almost all night waking from the toddler (she was 2.5 when baby sister was born). He still takes her if she wakes up at night since I get up with the baby just about every night.

I won't lie- I'm still struggling and the baby is 10 months old. And I wonder how anyone ever has three!

This is why we waited as long as we did! LO1 did not really sleep more than a few hours at a time until he was about 2... he had wakeups every hour to few hours for all of his first 18 months and I was a zombie. It was only when he turned 3 and we were about a year out from the super fog of sleep deprivation that we only started thinking about a second baby. I am 36 so I was also cognizant of the timing. I think our memory plays games with us because it's like I blocked all of the sleep deprivation out! I got pregnant when LO1 was a few months over 3 and when pregnancy insomnia struck this past summer, I remembered how hard those sleepless nights had been.

LO2 is here now (5 weeks old) and we are surviving so far, but those memories of sleep deprivation are becoming clearer again.

We were ready once one felt like it was getting easy. She was STTN most of the time and we felt we had a semblance of our old life back (eg could make time easily for sex or watching Netflix, going on dates, etc.) two is more work obviously, but the transition has been way easier and the sleep deprivation hasn't felt that difficult.

It's hard. My first didn't STTN until just after 12 months. We ended up with a 3 year gap (and another non sleeper). We have no plans to have more kids!

I keep telling people LO's demeanor makes it very easy to want to give him a sibling. Intermittent sleep was hard.

We didn't even think about until DS slept through the night at just past a year old. He also had terrible reflux but something just clicked when we night weaned him (sent daddy in for comfort instead of mommy) and he did it. Once we are at least 6 months past it, I felt like I was ready. Our second wasn't exactly planned though.

We didn't even think about it until LO1 slept through the night (around 1 year). And then, I wanted 6-12 months of all of us getting good sleep before we started trying again. My 2 will end up being a little over 3 years apart. I can't imagine trying while going through what you are dealing with!

The one "benefit" of having been through it already is that my pregnancy insomnia and poor sleep doesn't really bother me (I remember being so grouchy all the time with my first pregnancy). I already know how much worse it's going to get so I'm "enjoying" my broken up pregnancy sleep while I have it.

@lilyofthewest: yeah, I have a 4 year old, am turning 39 this year and just gave up. I recognized I'm old and I'm never going to have the energy I had at 35 again.

I think you either have a good sleeper, you have an oops, or you just go for it

We had an oops. My daughter was sleeping through the night, but we were going to wait until after my big race to start trying and hopefully end up with a spring/summer baby and only two years of double daycare. Two weeks later, two pink lines showed up and now I have a three week old.

@lilyofthewest: I can SO sympathize with you & other posters! My LO is 17mos & doesn't typically sttn. She generally wakes 1x per night, but sometimes twice & it has been taking a LOT to get her down for naps & at night. It's so exhausting & frustrating. I thought sure I wanted 2, but I'm over 40 & felt like we'd have to get pg before LO turns 2 or it just won't happen or I'll finally feel too old, but I'm really struggling with the decision to ttc. I'm sure people just find LO 2+ is just the new normal, but I have a hard time imagining how we'll do it. DH works long stressful hours & though I SAH, I sure don't feel like I've gotten into a good groove where I can handle more. We may well end up 1 & done after all.