BellaOnline Forums Family Moms Multilingual Families

Hello everyone,
I've already posted this on the education forum but maybe it fits in here better?
A good friend of mine has recently had their first baby. The father's native language is Spanish, the mother's native language is French and they're both living in Ireland (like myself) so they're speaking English at work.
They're a bit at a loss about what should be the 1st language for their child. Between themselves they speak both French and Spanish, so I suppose the natural thing to do would be to speak both with the baby as well. However, he'll have to learn English as well!
Does anyone here have any experience with multilingual children/families? Would 3 languages be too difficult and confusing for a child? What about when they start school?
I know some people who grew up using 2 languages and almost all of them have problems with grammar/spelling in both languages.
Anyone with experience or maybe some reading tips please help! <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Thank you.
B.

in my opinion i think whatever the language the child has to know for school then that should be the first language. it would only make it harder for them if they cant learn any subjects because they cant understand. i have read that in the first 8 years of life u learn the most, so if they wanted to start teaching other languages after the baby has mastered the first language i dont see a problem with that