For parents with 3 or more children, what was the hardest transition for you?

[2sunshines]

So I've heard a little bit of variance on this. A lot of people say that hardest transition is adding that third child. But I've also heard that for some people, going from one to two is a bigger transition.

Just wondering how it was for moms here.

[BeckaBlue]

well, it's hard for me to say i put from 2 to 3, though it wasnt that big of a deal for me, if id had a car it would've been easier, lol! but verall it was more difficult, there were a lot of pills to 'swallow' at the time

[Iarwain]

I didn't vote because my experience is outside the realm of "normal" since I went from 0 to 2 and skipped the one child stage. As far as transitions go that was really the hardest (obviously). Adding number 3 wasn't that big a deal in terms of the transition, but PARENTING 3 was the hardest time for me. By the time my fourth came a long the oldest ones were less intensely needy and things were a little different. Even though he (Lemur-#4) was a very high-need baby it was easier when he was an infant than it was when Princess (#3) was an infant - and she was a really easy baby. Then again when Princess was born I had three under 3 so I'm sure that was a factor.

[MarynMunchkins]

From 1 to 2. :) Of course, Ana was the neediest baby I've ever seen and literally screamed 8 hours a day. :( After that, nothing is that bad.

[BluegrassMama]

For me it was 3 to 4!

From one to two wasn't hard, because the first was still a baby. I mean, it was exhausting, but we weren't really covering new territory.

Two to three was easy because the oldest was very helpful, and the toddler willing to share mama. Also baby was very, very easy and happy and content!

3 to 4 was very hard. The older three all homeschooling, and a much wider range of needs with the wider range of ages. Add in health problems for mama and baby, and my highest-needs baby yet! He's just turned 1 (Aug 3) and only just now are we getting in a groove!

In our family, the temperament of the baby determined the smoothness of the transition.

[GodisGood]

Thank you for having a 0 - 1 choice! That was me for sure. 2 - 3 has been like "wha? we have a baby?" Course the first two screamed their heads off or refluxed all over me for the first two months. :doh

[UltraMother]

1-2. I was so unsure of myself and overwhelmed with the first baby. And when i found out I was pg with #2 , I was terrified. I knew there was no way i could handle two. But it did turn out to be easier and better than I thought. :)

[prov3v5-6]

From 1 to 2 for us. Our second child, now 2 1/2 is a bundle of energy completely opposite of me, dh and ds1. ds2 is the energizer bunny and we're still struggling with how to best parent him and channel his energy to the good. ds3 (4 months now!) appears to have the personality like ds1.

[mamaKristin]

I'm going to jump to a bit of a conclusion here with my opinion. I am assuming that my hardest transition will be the next one - 2 to 3 kids. 0 to 1 was hard, DS was pretty high needs and I didn't have a huge support network. In retrospect, I also think I may have had a mild case of PPD. 1 to 2 was surprisingly easy, but DS was becoming really *into* dad and DH was off work and home for the first 4 months of DD's life. Not a great transition, $$-wise, but much easier than expected on our sanity! This time, DD will be 13 months old when the baby arrives, DS will be just 3.5 and we live 1300+ miles from family...talk about not much of a support system in place! So, I'm guessing that this upcoming transition will be the roughest.

[Close2MyHeart]

from 1 to 2... but only because NJ was like Mary's Ana and screamed ALL the time. If it weren't for that, then the transition wouldn't have been a big deal.

[4LovesMom]

For me, going from 2 to 3 wasn't about the number of kids to parent, it was more just about having a newborn. So going from 1 to 2 was much trickier b/c I also had issues adjusting to dividing my attention. Then I knew what it felt like by the time #3 came.