The sad truth about why Mayim Bialik stopped having children despite wanting a large family

Why Mayim Bialik decided 2 children were enough despite intially wanting 11

Mayim Bialik once wanted to have 11 children. But her experience of having two sons - Frederick and Miles - made her reconsider her decision. The 'Big Bang Theory' star shared her reason for not having more babies during one of her podcast episodes in 2018. Despite being a successful actress, a neuroscientist and a high profile game show host, Bialik's reason for not expanding her brood resonated with several women.

'I wanted enough kids to form a football team'

The former 'Jeopardy!' host started the podcast by saying that when she first thought it was time for her to become a mother, she did not know anything about handling a baby. "I didn't know how to change a diaper, I didn't even really know how to hold a newborn," she said. "What I did know, however, was that I wanted enough kids to form a football team."

First 'velcro baby' and constant exhaustion

Bialik gave birth to her firstborn son Miles Bialik Stone on October 11, 2005. She also admitted writing her doctoral thesis after she had her firstborn. Calling her son a 'velcro baby', Bialik said, "He was a wonderful baby, he was always pleasant as long as I constantly nursed him, held him, and slept right next to him. I loved my Velcro baby, as we call these kinds of babies." However, she also added, "But being constantly on-call was exhausting."

Baby No 2

Two years after giving birth to her first son, Bialik became pregnant with her second baby. She shared, "I wrongfully assumed that baby number two would be totally different than baby number one," before explaining, "Labor was so different, pregnancy was so different, he's gonna be a breeze. Wrong, baby number two was a Velcro baby who nursed a ton and was always pleasant as long as I held him, nursed him, and slept right next to him safely." 

'I was stressed'

As the second child grew up, Bialik was becoming increasingly disillusioned about her initial ideas of motherhood. She explained, "He tripled his birth weight within the first year of his life, and I had the first of what would be four hernia surgeries as a mom." However, her firstborn also required attention. "My firstborn still needed a lot of cuddling and tenderness, even after his brother was born. He even tried nursing again," she said, before adding, "It felt like I had two babies. I cried a lot, I was stressed."

'We had no nanny'

The 48-year-old said she was stressed as they were bringing up their children all by themselves. She explained, "We had no nanny, we had no babysitter."

Chronic lack of sleep and a busy schedule

Not having a helping hand was not the only issue that bothered Bialik as she was also taking two lessons simultaneously. Bialik shared, "I was tutoring Hebrew and piano at the time, and I was sleeping in basically two to three-hour spurts."

'I decided that I was done having babies'

It was then that Bialik decided she would not have another child. She shared, "And so, at 33 with a toddler and a baby who still needed me tremendously, I decided that I was done having babies. I cried about it a lot, because I didn't want to be done, I wanted to do the thing that I set out to do, I wanted to do it right." She, however, explained, "I couldn't bring myself to have more children when my boys still needed so much love and attention."