Kiara Advani, Deepika Padukone are choosing 'two under three': Why are more urban women choosing closer pregnancies?

Highlights:

Bollywood actors Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani are expecting again. The couple announced on Wednesday (7) that they are pregnant with their second child, just 15 months after their daughter, Saraayah, was born in July 2025.

Kiara shared the news on Instagram with a photo of Saraayah holding knitted baby booties, writing: "Blessed once again with the greatest gift of all."

The announcement comes just weeks after another star couple completed their family of four. Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh welcomed their second daughter on September 19, 2026, two years after their first daughter, Dua, was born. "Welcome, Baby Girl. 19.9.2026. Dua, Deepika and Ranveer," the couple wrote.

Deepika, who turned 40 in January, was candid about the realities of being pregnant with a toddler at home. During her pregnancy, she reshared a humorous reel captioned: "Don't lift anything over 20 pounds during pregnancy. Me this entire pregnancy."

What is "two under three"?

Both couples are part of what parenting communities call "two under three," a family with two children who are both younger than three at the same time. A closer version is known as "two under two."

The term comes from parenting blogs and social media, not medicine. And the practice itself isn't new. Closely spaced children were common in past generations, when families were larger. What has changed is who is choosing it, and why.

Are women over 40 doing this?

Increasingly, in urban India, yes, though the numbers are still small.

India's urban families are already smaller. Urban India's total fertility rate is 1.6 children per woman, compared with 2.1 in rural areas, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019–21). For many urban couples, a second child is now a deliberate decision.

Women are also starting families later. The national median age at first birth rose from 19.8 to 21.2 between 2005–06 and 2019–21, with a notable rise in women becoming mothers after 30.

For women who have their first child in their mid-30s, waiting several years for a second can mean trying to conceive in their 40s, when fertility declines. Closer spacing is often a practical choice rather than a preference.

Late motherhood still isn't common. A 2026 study using NFHS-5 data found 8.7 per cent of women aged 40 to 49 had their last child at 35 or older. However, researchers found delayed motherhood is more common in districts with higher female education, greater urbanization and better access to healthcare.

Kareena Kapoor Khan was among the first top stars to have a second child at 40, welcoming her son Jeh in 2021. She later said the experience was harder than her first. "This pregnancy was extremely difficult compared to Taimur's, which was a breeze," she said at the launch of her book, as reported by The Tribune. Sonam Kapoor also announced her second pregnancy at 40, about three and a half years after her son Vayu was born.

What the stats say about spacing

Close spacing is not the norm in India. The median gap between births is 33 months, nearly unchanged from 32 months in the previous survey, according to NFHS data.

Only about 9.4 per cent of women had a birth interval of less than 24 months, according to an analysis published in BMC Public Health.

The health side

Doctors say age and spacing both matter.

Researchers classify a maternal age above 34 and a birth interval shorter than 24 months as "high-risk fertility behaviors," linked to poorer outcomes for mothers and babies. The World Health Organization recommends waiting at least 24 months after a birth before the next pregnancy, giving a mother's body time to recover.

Pregnancy after 40 also carries higher risks, including gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and chromosomal conditions, which is why doctors recommend closer monitoring.

Fertility itself declines with age. Shweta Mittal Gupta, a senior fertility specialist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, told Business Standard that for egg freezing, success rates drop with age due to natural ovarian aging. That's one reason urban clinics report a surge in egg-freezing inquiries from women in their late 20s and 30s.

Experts stress that the right timing depends on each woman's age, health and previous delivery, and should be planned with a doctor.

A new kind of mom

For celebrities like Kiara and Deepika, as for many urban professionals, "two under three" reflects a modern balancing act between careers, biology and family dreams. The label may be new, but the choice is deeply personal.