Anyone with 5 or more children?

[E_Kids]

We are thinking about having another....

[storm]

Pregnant with #7 here, ask away, more than happy to answer any questions.

[Mum2Romone]

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child?

How far apart did you have your babies?

did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?)

Did you plan all your children? Please explain...

Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM

Sorry if these are too personal, just curious.

[storm]

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child? Yes, although mostly from layby's
How far apart did you have your babies? around 2 years between the older ones: 17, 15 13, then we have 4, 3 & 1 year olds.
did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?) Yep, but not for long with the 1st 3, about 5 months, 6-7 months with the last ones breasts aren't ok, don't have any anymore lol
Did you plan all your children? Please explain..my 1st wasn't, the next 2 weren't exactly planned, the next ones were all planned.
Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM I'm a SAHM, DH owns & operates an opal mine, sometmes we have good cashflow other times not so good.

[turtleschell]

subscribing.. i also want an army of children..

[E_Kids]

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child?

How far apart did you have your babies?

did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?)

Did you plan all your children? Please explain...

Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM

Sorry if these are too personal, just curious.

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child? Yes we buy clothes for the kids all of the time and we also sometime do layby's

How far apart did you have your babies? Check my siggy at the bottom.

did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?) I BF my 1st and 2nd,3rd I chose not to 4th Failed due to bub not latching properly 5th,Tried bub wasn't getting enough milk,6 chose not to.Are my breasts still OK well yes I think so and DH still enjoys them...

Did you plan all your children? Please explain... 1st yes /2nd yes /3rd yes /4th yes/MC yes/MC yes/5th yes/6th yes/ MC no /this pregnancy yes

Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM DH works FT and I am lucky enough to be a SAHM and my older two work full time and support themselves live at home and pay board.....

[Toomanytoomany]

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child?

Not always. I have friends who give me a lot of lovely stuff for the kids, and my sister and I pass stuff between each other - there's stuff that's been through her two girls and at least three of mine!

How far apart did you have your babies?

Well, my eldest is twenty and my youngest is one! In between there is an 18 yo, 12 yo, 10 yo, and 6 yo.

did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?)

I breast fed all but one of them, the last three for an extended period. Are my breast "ok"? My husband thinks so! In all seriousness, the "damage" was done with #1. They're no "worse" than they were then. But then I tend not to think of them as being damaged or anything. They're just mature breasts that have fed babies, and they look like it.

Did you plan all your children? Please explain...

No. I have a hideous history of unexpected pregnancy. The first two were because I was stupidly irresponsible and immature. Not that I regret them for a minute. The next two were very much planned, plus I had miscarriages in between. #5 was an unplanned pregnancy, and #6 was the result of going to England on a conference with my dh and drinking too much English beer.

Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM

I work nearly full time. My dh works from home. We couldn't manage on my dh's income, but in all honesty, I'd be working even if we didn't need the money. I love my job I find it very, very tiring at times to be the mother I want to be after a hard day at the office. I also find it hard to fit in self care, but I'm more diligent about that now after having a breakdown a couple of years ago.

[cathie5]

Hi we have 5 kids and I'm pg with number 6 due in Dec.

ARE YOU ABLE TO AFFORD NEW CLOTHES FOR EACH CHILD?
Yes we are able to afford new clothes for all the kids, they get 2 good new outfits and other clothes come from EBAY.

HOW FAR APART DID YOU HAVE YOUR BABIES?
BOY 14
BOY 9
GIRL 5
BOY 19 MONTHS
GIRL 19 MONTHS

DID YOU BREAST FEED ALL OF YOUR BABIES?
I bottle feed all children.

DID YOU PLAN ALL YOUR CHILDREN?
Yes

ALSO HOW DO YOU AFFORD YOUR FAMILY? DO YOU WORK? OR SAHM.
I owned my own buss up until 2008 when I had the twins. I am now a SAHM and I love it. My husband has a well paid job so we live very well.

if you have any more questions please ask.

cathie

[hannanat]

I have 7 children. Their ages and genders are in my signature

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child? Yes, but I usually wait until things are on special.

How far apart did you have your babies? The ages of my kids are 13, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 3.

did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?) Yes I breastfed and my boobs are okay. They're not exactly where they should be, but my DH still loves them :P

Did you plan all your children? Please explain... No. I planned my first and second.

Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM My DH and I both work, though I do all of mine from home. I work in the marketing department of a designer jewellery company and I'm about to start my own business which is the second I've had. I'm the associate editor at a political ezine and I'm studying full time for a double degree at UWS - BA majoring in English, subbing in history, with a Masters in Teaching.

I make sure my work is done between 10 and 2 and I study early morning and late in the evenings. I don't like to put my kids in daycare so DH takes time off to look after our son (the rest of the kids are in school) so I can attend classes, which although full time is only about 11 hours a week on campus. I don't attend lectures, just tutorials so I download the lectures from uni so I can listen to them while I'm driving or whenever else I get a spare minute.

My kids are great. I wouldn't change anything for the world.

HTH.

[maz]

I have 4...I know not the 5 plus but we're still classes as big and get stared at when we go out

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child?

yes....clothes arent THAT expensive and there are sales.

How far apart did you have your babies?

my first 2 were 18months apart - then had a 4 1/2 year gap - then the last 2 were 16 months apart

did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?)

just my last 2 and yep..girls are fine although their the last thing I worry about looking at in the mirror. I have a lovely 'gunt' from having c/s'

Did you plan all your children? Please explain...

YES!!! defently. I even went and had a tube reversal. I would have had more but my pg with Tank was very bad and almsot losing him was the last straw.

Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM

the same way you afford to live. really....its not that difficult...buy in bulk is actually cheaper. My kids were in cloth so we saved $$$$, I personally us cloth, we have a vegie garden. Going on holidays is the pit's cause you barely find anywere that catters for families with more then 3 kids. I also have my own business and work from home...hubby has a full time job. I love ebay....I resell items on there only to use that money to buy more for the kids. I pay my bills fortnightly.....eg electricity, water, gas are all on payment plans so I dont get lumped with HUGE bill's at once.
OH and there's the HUGE large families allowance you get from the government

And honestly....you make do. I think it doesnt matter how many children you have..if money is tight, its tight. There is alot of love and crazyness in a big family.....its bloody fantastic!!!

[Lots_of_Love]

I have 8..... was working full time until 16months ago, when I became a stay at home mum. Re-adjusting to a much lower income was hard, but do-able. Just have prioritize the important things first. Hand-me-downs are very important now that I'm not working, and we have to be creative to make nice tasty, but cheap dinners...lol. I BF all of mine, for varied periods.... I'm still the same as I was before kids (except grey hairs and stretch marks). Most of mine were 2 years apart, 18 month gap between 4&5 and just 12 months gap between 7&8. Only my first was somewhat "planned"...lol...I love my big family & wouldn't have it any other way!

[halltribe]

Hi there Lots of love - I see you are new around here so welcome aboard. It seems to be very quiet in this section atm -I guess we all get busy with our larger broods. Like you I also have 3 girls and 5 boys so well done. Maybe if we getting yakking on here some more may come back and join us! I think I may start a new topic just to get some interest up again.....see you in the new topic.

[mom2PnE]

I have 5 boys and I maybe pg with my 6th child. I should know early next week if it's happened.

[~clover~]

OH and there's the HUGE large families allowance you get from the government

Lol, that whole $10.39 or whatever it is. I assume it stays the same when you have more?

We are about to have number 4. It will be our last, a very unexpected suprise! Not 5 or more, but big enough to upsize our car!

Our kids will all be 2.5 - 3 years apart.

We are only getting by atm because DH is working a second job. We could survive without it, but that is our savings & his petrol money, as both jobs are 45 minutes away.

I don't buy the kids new clothes very often. I could if we had decent clothes shops here, but they are an hour away. I prefer op shops, unless there is something I can't find that is really needed (DS needs a dressing gown, so I'll have to buy one new). Birthdays & christmas's are when they get new stuff, summer stuff at chrissy & winter stuff for b'days, coz they are at that time of year.

Part of our baby bonus after this baby will be paying for our first family holiday next year. Lots of patience & saving is the key.

I also pay our bills straight out of our accounts weekly/fortnightly. Alot easier to keep on top of things.

I bf the first 2 for a few weeks. TBH its that first pregnancy that ruins your boobs, not the bfing. 6 weeks of feeding DD1 & they looked the same as they do now after 23 months feeding DS. I'm lucky, mine aren't that big, so they don't look that bad tbh.

I'm a SAHM. The goverment helps. Not much, but we wouldn't survive without it! I will be going back to work when this one is weaned though. So in about 2.5 - 3 years. Will make things alot easier.
Money is always tight, but we get by

[KimB]

Are you able to afford new clothes for each child? We can but I do check out our local op shops as well as many new clothes get given to them

How far apart did you have your babies? Between DD1 and DS1 is 4 years, DS1 and DS2 there is 22 months, DS2 and DD2 is nearly 6 years, DD2 and DD3 is 21 months.

Did you breast feed all of your babies? (IF so are you breasts still ok?) I did b/f all of mine and while I think they have gone saggy (might be due to age as well lol) DF is ok with them

Did you plan all your children? Please explain... We did plan all of them.

Also how do you afford your family? Do you work? or SAHM I'm lucky enough to be a SAHM while my DF is a teacher. We might not be able to afford to go away on big holidays but we have been going camping and loving it.