When is the best time to have a second, third, or even fourth baby?
Well, every couple should determine that for themselves — some plan back-to-back pregnancies if infertility is a worry or they envision their children close in age; some space out their pregnancies to either savor each stage of the baby years or give themselves time to get used to being a fuller family.
But if you ask science, there is a good time to plan a subsequent pregnancy. According to the Mayo Clinic, waiting 18 to 24 months — but less than five years after a live birth — is the healthiest gap in between pregnancies to avoid problems like premature birth or congenital disorders. On the other hand, waiting too long to welcome another baby presents an increased risk of preeclampsia, even among those with no history of the pregnancy complication. Mayo Clinic says, however, that we still need more information about the risks of waiting longer between each pregnancy..
Of course, only you and your doctor know what’s best for your body so if you want your children to be close in age, let these celebrities be your example. Bachelorette star and mother of five Emily Maynard, who had three babies one year apart, wanted her kids to “grow up together” while Jessica Simpson was “extremely shocked” and grateful to become pregnant eight months after the birth of her first child with husband Eric Johnson. And with two teenage sons who were born one year apart, Britney Spears is taking time to consider the possibility of baby number three.
Either way, more celebrity babies? We won’t say no to that!
Britney Spears & Kevin Federline
Former married couple Britney Spears and Kevin Federline didn’t plan back-to-back babies — their eldest son Sean is 16 and their youngest son Jayden is 15 — rather, “It just kind of happened,” the pop star toldPeople in 2006, adding, “I’m going to wait a while for the next (one)!”
Now engaged to personal trainer Sam Asghari, Spears is considering motherhood for the third time. “I’m thinking about having another baby,” she wrote on Instagram in 2021.
Shawn Johnson East & Andrew East
Shawn Johnson East and Andrew East didn’t wait long to have their second baby as daughter Drew Hazel was born in October 2019 and son Jett James came along in July 2021. In August of that year, the former Olympic gymnast opened up about parenting two young children in an Instagram Q&A. “….I love having two babies. I feel like I might be done having babies — right now, just being in this phase — but it’s going really well, and overall, we’re making progress,” she said.
Jessica Simpson & Eric Johnson
Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson’s eldest children are close in age — daughter Drew is 9 and son Ace is 8 — a gap the singer called “God’s plan” back in 2013. Reflecting on the timing of her second pregnancy, Simpson told Jay Leno, “I was extremely shocked, I was shocked because I was going through a lot of hormonal changes trying to get back to the old, vibrant Jessica.”
The couple waited longer for their third child, welcoming daughter Birdie to the family in 2019.
Hilaria Baldwin & Alec Baldwin
Hilaria Baldwin, the wife of actor Alec Baldwin, says people get confused by the age differences between their kids. The couple share Carmen, 8, Rafael, 6, Leonardo, 5, Romeo, 3, Eduardo, 1, and Lucia, 1 (the last of whom was born through surrogacy).
“Whenever I meet people and they ask me my kids’ ages, I wait for their awkward moment when they calculate the age difference of my last two babies,” Hilaria wrote on Instagram in August 2021. “I have yet to come up with the seamless way to explain it..it is such a wild story, that I haven’t quite mastered it yet…joking about it, definitely diffuses the situation.” And because the birthdays of her two youngest babies are so close together (Eduardo was born in September 2020 and Lucia in early 2021), Hilaria has said they’re “almost like twins.”
April Love Geary & Robin Thicke
April Love Geary and Robin Thicke have three children, Mia, 3, Lola, 2, and Luca, 1. Considering that Thicke once said, “I’m probably at my best when I am in dad mode,” we see why the couple wanted their kids to be close in age.
Thicke shares son Julian, 11, with ex Paula Patton.
Bar Refaeli & Adi Ezra
In 2020, Bar Refaeli and husband Adi Ezra welcomed their third child. “This is what real GLAM looks like. 3rd baby in 3.5 years,” the model wrote on Instagram, with a photo of herself wearing a hospital gown. The couple share son David, 2, along with daughters Liv, 5, and Elle, 4.
In 2019, Refaeli posted another shot of the couple standing in an elevator during each pregnancy. “Same week, same place, same dress. Different years,” she wrote. “Ready for a skinny decade.”
Behati Prinsloo & Adam Levine
The model and Maroon 5 frontman share two daughters, Dusty Rose, 5, and Gio Grace, 3. “We always knew we wanted a second one,” the model told Entertainment Tonight. “So I think for me in those two years, when I had two babies under the age of two, I was just like, ‘Don’t even think about it!’ But I do also want five kids, but don’t even think about it.”
Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott
The Beverly Hills, 90210 star and Chopped Canada host are the proud parents of five kids: Liam, 14, Stella, 13, Hattie, 10, Finn, 9, and Beau, 4.
In 2012, just five months after Hattie was born, Spelling became pregnant with Finn. “All my friends keep asking me [if it was planned] and I’m like, ‘Seriously? Hattie was one month old. Do you think it was planned?'” Spelling said, according to Us Weekly. “I was up all night with feedings.”
“The doctor said, ‘Wait six weeks [to have sex],’ and Dean was like, ‘They tell everyone that,’” Spelling continued. “We didn’t wait that long with Stella or Liam. I was like, ‘Well, I don’t want him to think that the sex is going downhill,’ so now we’re on baby No. 4.”
Matthew McConaughey & Camila Alves
Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves’ children are Levi, 13, Vida, 12, and Livingston, 9. And if the decision was solely up to McConaughey, they wouldn’t stop there. “I’d like to have eight more kids,” the actor said at the HISTORYTalks event in 2020. “My wife’s not on the same page.”
Liv Tyler
In 2016, Liv Tyler joked that she had been “pregnant forever” while carrying her third child who was born one year after his little brother. Tyler’s children are Milo, 17, Sailor, 6, and Lula, 5. “I always wanted to have a big family. I’m very excited,” Tyler told E! News at the time.
Emily Maynard
Emily Maynard didn’t find long-lasting love on The Bachelorette however she married businessman Tyler Johnson and they had four children together: Jennings, who was born in 2015, Gibson, born in 2016, Gatlin, born in 2017, and Magnolia, born in 2020. The former reality star also has a 16-year-old daughter Ricki, whose father died in 2004.
“I’ve always wanted a lot of kids,” Maynard told People. “I made it clear on our first day, Listen, my clock’s ticking, and I’m ready to get on this!” She added that she was “excited for them to grow up together.”
Still, not every day is easy. “I do hit my max,” Maynard told the outlet. “Sometimes I’ll go sit in my car and drink my coffee. I don’t want to see what kind of mess the kids are making inside!”
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