Exactly when the alarm clock starts ringing varies from woman to woman. The way a woman feels about child spacing before she becomes a mother is not necessarily the way she will feel once spit-up cloths are a staple of her wardrobe. And no matter how carefully a mother plans the spacing of her children, Mother Nature may have other plans in store. Nursing mothers are frequently unable to conceive for the first 6 months of nursing, and some women don't ovulate for the entire time they lactate. A study published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that parents should wait 18 to 23 months after a full-term birth before conceiving again.
Many parents consider a host of other factors when deciding how to space their children.
I thought if they were close in age they would enjoy each other more and have more in common. So far, my children are best friends as well as great playmates. Also, having them close in age really prevented any struggles in adjustment with my older child, as she was practically a baby when my second child was born. My two oldest are 20 months apart and the two youngest are 15 months apart. The oldest was 6 when the last one was born.