# Spacing

**What is the best age gap between children?**

How far apart you would like your children to be: close together, moderately spaced or wide apart.

In short: Parents choose between 3 main approaches: Close (under 2 years); Moderate (2-3 years); Wide (4 or more). Evidence: evidence leans one way. Research or guidance points in a direction, but it's thin, small or correlational. Best settled: 6–12 months.

- Area: Family size and siblings
- Evidence: Evidence leans one way
- Best settled: 6–12 months
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/family-size-and-siblings--spacing

## Spacing: what are the options?

1. **Close (under 2 years)**: Children are born less than two years apart.
2. **Moderate (2-3 years)**: Children are born two to three years apart.
3. **Wide (4 or more)**: Children are born four or more years apart.

## Spacing: what does the evidence say?

**Evidence leans one way.** Research or guidance points in a direction, but it's thin, small or correlational. (Leans, above a medical floor)

ACOG: avoid conceiving within 6 months of a birth and weigh the risks under 18 months; gaps of two years or more helped the older sibling's test scores

Sources:

- [ACOG](https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/obstetric-care-consensus/articles/2019/01/interpregnancy-care)
- [Buckles & Munnich](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254455947_Birth_Spacing_and_Sibling_Outcomes)

## What else is worth knowing?

Spacing is the gap between births. Medical bodies advise waiting at least 18 months after a birth before the next pregnancy, for the mother's and baby's health. Beyond that, closer and wider gaps each have advantages.

## Questions to ask each other

- What would the ideal gap be and why?
- How might age, health or work change our timing?
- What did our own sibling gaps feel like?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=family-size-and-siblings&topic=family-size-and-siblings--spacing