I have met somebody who had babies about 10 months apart, which is quite amazing - she got preg pretty much straight after having the first, and apparently the second-born was born early. They were close but also quite competitive and the second was a bigger child than the first and was likely to be in the same year at school.

My two will be 2 and a half years apart - I'm looking forward to that gap with the older one having reached a good level of autonomy and understanding when the next one arrives. However, I would have been very happy to have them close together also.