if parents are premature will baby also be?

[Anonymous]

i am wondering if anyone out there knows if there is a correlation between the birth of parents and babies. a friend of mine was 8 weeks early and his son was born 7 weeks early. my husband was born 4 weeks early and since we are now 36 weeks into our first pregnancy, we are curious to know if is there is a pattern.

i would love to know if there is anyone out there who has heard of studies done on the subject, but am also be very interested in personal experiences. since i was born 2 weeks late, we currently have a 6 week birth window and that seems way to long.

[Anonymous]

There is no definate data to support or refute this idea. Currently there is a study being done at the Washington Univ. in St. Louis to see if there is a genetic correlation toward premature parents=premature children.

[Anonymous]

Just anecdotal evidence here: My BIL and SIL were both preemies (4 weeks early and 6 weeks early). My SIL had the same concern, but their DD was 1 week overdue; SIL was induced.

I was right on time, and both of my kids were early (but not preemies). By 37 weeks, babies are considered full term, so chances are you'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

I was born at 27 weeks (and am currently at 27 weeks with my first) so this is a question of high interest to me.

Most OB's will say there isn't a strong link between maternal/parental prematurity and that of their offspring, and that being premature yourself doesn't put you in a high risk group. But there have been a few studies using huge data sets in Scandinavia that have shown a link and increased odds of having a premature baby, especially for women who were premature themselves (the dad doesn't seem to matter as much). That said, the risks are still fairly low, ranging from about 3-10%. If people are interested I can post the abstract or link to a research article on the topic (from the epidemiology literature).