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born, or four months afterwards when things have settled down again.

Hopefully your child will love the baby as much as you do, but occasionally the green eyed monster can rear its head and your child may feel some jealousy towards the baby. If this happens and your child becomes aggressive or violent towards the baby remember behaviour like this is not uncommon with young children and is generally just a shout for attention, and although difficult at the time, if your child does hit, scratch or bite the baby, give them a firm NO and take them away from the situation. If you make too much fuss and start shouting at them or worse still smack them, they will know that this is a great way to get your attention, be it good or bad. Instead every time they are good with the baby, praise them and tell them what a good boy or girl they are, they will soon realise the best way of gaining your attention.

So what is the best age gap between children ?All children cope differently with the arrival of a new baby, and the way they do this will depend greatly on their personality but also has a lot to do with their age.

Is there a best age gap between children is a question commonly asked, but all age gaps come with their good and bad points.

What are the advantages of a small age gap - A child who is under three may not at first be happy to share you, but will forget fairly quickly that they were the only child and the small gap means they will grow up together, and usually play well together. You will also still be in baby-mode' dealing with changing nappies, feeding schedules and already adjusted to baby-time and disturbed nights.

What are the disadvantages of small age gap - Children in the first three years of life have a relatively high need for attention and care, both baby and toddler stages require high levels of supervision and often involve round the clock responsibilities. If you have two children under three there is likely to be a constant, sometimes overwhelming need for adult care. Parents may feel exhausted and can feel like they are missing the chance to really enjoy each child as an individual.

Carol is mother to Jack 9 and Joe 7,

There is a 2 year 3 month gap between my boys and I have found it to be just right. In the early days because Jack was still so young he accepted Joe really easily and they bonded very quickly. Luckily Jack was out of nappies at two so this did make it a lot easier not having two lots of nappies to change.

Now they are older they generally

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