How Long Should You Wait For Your Next Child?

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Family planning is very important to keep in mind and also practice even when you already have your own family. This includes how big or small you want your family to be. Family planning services are readily available in family centers and organizations, and these services help people decide how many, when, and at what interval to have children-- if they want. A well-planned family can give freedom, happiness, and contentment in the household. 

On the other hand, unplanned families or pregnancies can cause so much stress, not only on the pregnant mother, but also to the welfare and finances of the whole family. It may not be common, but these unplanned events can also affect your country's structure and the environment as a whole. 

Whether you already have kids or not, it is important for a married couple to plan their family to avoid any unwanted situations in the future. If you recently just gave birth, there is this thing called postpartum checkup that you have to attend. During this checkup, you can ask your doctor if it's safe for you to engage in sexual activity again. However, even if your doctor gives you the go signal, you need to keep in mind and ask yourself if it's the best thing to do, despite you and your partner's sexual desires. 

Mothers should really keep in mind that when it comes to planning children and babies, the ideal time frame they should wait for another child is at least a year after they have their first one. According to various research and studies, women should wait between 24 and 18 months after they give birth. Studies have also shown that small gaps between pregnancies can lead to premature death or infant mortality. Research also shows that women, despite their age, will highly be associated with more risks if they get pregnant in less than 12 months after giving birth. 

However, as mentioned pregnancies do not necessarily depend on a woman's age, but there are instances that it will matter. Mothers who are older than 35 will be more risky, especially to their baby. In fact, women who are ages 20 to 34 years old have the highest risk for babies. 

In addition, women who are older than 35 and got pregnant six months after they just gave birth has a risk of 1.2 percent to maternal mortality. On the other hand, as for younger women, those who got pregnant six months after they gave birth has a percentage risk of 8.5 percent of premature labor. If they have only waited for 18 months after another pregnancy happened, this percentage could have dropped to 3.7 percent. 

This is why family planning is essential. For you to know more about the benefits of family planning in your household, here are some of the benefits that the mother and the family as a whole can get:

For mothers:

• Improved health

• More time

• Career growth

• Freedom

• Attention and focus to the famlly

For the household or family:

• Less financial problems

• Less responsibility

• Preserved family resources