Working mum with three children Post Reply

[OoloK]

I was wondering if i could have the views/experience of working mummies who have three children.

We have 2 children and I am working, we couldn't really do without 2 salaries, and we are thinking of having a third child, but, amongst other things, I am a bit worried that it will be unmanageable.

We now have a nice routine with the first 2 and I probably need some reassurance that I will be able to cope!

Thank you so much,
Oolok

[supermummy]

I can't speak personally but my best friend has3 (7, 5 and 1) she works full time and is the breadwinner (though her husband is also now doing well and works full time). She always has an au pair to help around the house, with childcare and school pickups etc but somehow manages to do bedtime routine herself. It also helps that she is able to get home for 6 ish and once or twice a week can do drop off/ pick ups so she sees the kids a bit more. I know she also has a good network of neighbours who can help with pick ups if necessary. Overall, I know she feels guilty and leads a pretty manic life but they do manage and seem a very happy family! I think it also helps that both her and her husband are from big families so are completely used to noise, mess and chaos! I guess it really depends what help you would have and how flexible your job is.

Good luck.

[lucybrady]

Does anyone else have any advice on this? I'm keen to hear about other people's experiences as well as planning to go down the third child route too...!

[jojomckenna]

Hi There,
I am expecting our 3rd child on August 2nd (I have twin boys who are 1 year on tuesday). I seem to fluctuate between - yes it will all be absolutely fine and .... what have we done. Both myself and my husband are 1 of 3 and we did always want 3 kids, I am working part time at the moment.
I don't know the right answer but what it came down to with us was the only reason we could find for not having a third was the cost and we both decided that as long as we could provide a loving family it didn't matter.
My part time salery covers the cost of a live in nanny and my husband works full time. We don't have money left over but are looking forward to our 3rd (and last) baby.
At the end of the day it just seemed wrong to only have two kids - I can't explain it but 3 seems right.

No - I don't have a clue how we will mnage but I am sure that we will!

please email me if you have any other questions

Jo
www.entertainingbabies.com
jo@entertainingbabies.com

[Jude]

Hi. I am a mum of 3 (6, 2.5 and 2 months). I am currently on mat leave with baby number 3 but plan to return to work full time in 1-2 months time. I would like to tell you that its easy - its not. However having any amount of children is not easy. its all about how you choose to strike a balance. Although not easy, it is incredibly rewarding and I wouldn't change it for anything. We will be getting an au pair or some other form of help when I go back to work as its slightly less expensive than nursery for this many kids. We have a good routine and that helps immensely (i used to be incredibly disorganised and that was a great source of stress in the early days).whatever you decide to do, good luck with it all. We are very happy with our decision to have 3 kids.