For those with kids - best birth month/season?

[Anonymous]

I see all who don't mind the post have had children.

Yeah, the title of the thread is "For those with kids . . ." so of course people WITH kids are the ones responding.

This is not a board for childless women confronting infertility. It's for anyone with questions about TTC, regardless of circumstances. There are infertility-specific forums elsewhere on the net if it bothers you that this forum is not limited to those issues.

22:26, I'm really sorry. I know that feeling of disappointment. I hope you get your BFP soon.

[Anonymous]

This is a great question for me...since I had real thoughts on the best time to be born, and planned my first (Feb) accordingly. I was actually shooting for a March/April/May baby, but we got lucky the first month we tried. My thought is that it is a great time to have birthday parties. Everyone is in school, etc. And, you have all of spring and summer to take baby out on walks, etc. In fact, I delayed TTC because I did NOT want a Dec. or Jan birthday (too close to the holidays).

For the second one, I wanted to have a fall baby. I am a Nov. baby and love it. We tried, got pregnant with a late Oct. due date and I was thrilled! Here comes the "but"...I miscarried. I was so sad to miscarry and that my "plan" wouldn't happen. I really wanted to avoid a summer birthday -- everyone is gone and no one is around to celebrate. So I focused on spring and fall. Fast forward 1 year, still not pregnant, and wish I just let things happen.

So there's my 2 cents...if you can control it, spring or fall. But remember that you'll find something good in what you get because you'll be so happy to have your exact baby. And, you can always celebrate their birthday on another day!

[Anonymous]

I'd also think about the school year cut-off. I think it's best to be in the middle age wise, so about 6 months from the school cut-off. This is coming from someone whose kids will be among the oldest in their class (birthday is 5 days after the cut-off). But mainly I think the best time to have a baby is 40 weeks after you get pregnant!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi there. I am a new poster, and DH and I are just starting to talk about starting a family. During our most recent conversation, we got into an interesting conversation about the best time of year to have a baby... and the conversation ranged from best time of year to take parental leave to best chances to development success as our child grows up to best time of year to have a birthday. For those of you with kids - I would love to hear your thoughts on the best month/season to have a child. I would appreciate any advice/guidance/experiences you can offer.

*DISCLAIMER*
Obviously, I completely understand that a lot of this will be out of our hands, and that any healthy child would be a tremendous gift. I got it - this is a small concern in the world of big concerns. But we've got to decide to start TTC at some point, so we may as well pick a point that others recommend.

Get alive and let that baby come whenever he/she wants! So much planning is killing the whole idea of making a child. Make love and trust me, that baby would be prefect.Forget about birthday parties, college planning, weather changes, jobs promotions. Enjoy the miracle of making love, being pregnant, giving birth, breastfeeding.Enjoy every moment with your child during the first 6 years. The gift will come back as a boumerang, I guarantee you. You will be happy all your life. This advise is from an European woman.

[Anonymous]

PP, what great advice....thanks for the reminder!

(from pp 10:07)

[Anonymous]

#1 was born in early June. Going into June was already hard enough and it was nice not to have to make it through a DC summer largely pregnant. It took 2.5 years for us to conceive and it was our third round of IVF, so I really didn't care when the baby was born, I just wanted it to happen. We're about to TTC #2 (IVF again) and I'm trying to go for it sooner rather than later (by Sept) so I have a shot at delivering before the height of summer if it works.

[Anonymous]

My first was born in January and at the time I didn't even wonder whether that was bad or good in terms of seasons. However, looking back a spring baby would have been nice - April or May. That way you can get out of the house more, and enjoy the warm weather, as opposed to being afraid to go out or go to the mall because of flu season.

My husband has been wanting a July baby for reasons he still can't explain, and despite my fears of being pregnant, swollen and sweaty in the middle of summer, we actually tried and managed to conceive so that we would have a baby in July. Unfortunately I had a miscarriage, and since then we both decided we would not even think about timing again - we would be lucky just to conceive. I think we both felt we were a bit too arrogant to think we can "plan" something like this and don't want to jinx ourselves again.

[Anonymous]

Sure, post here and I'm happy to have you. That said, I want to conceive any time (pref now after 16 months of trying!!). If I had preferences, I'd probably pick March/April/May, but I don't have that luxury. The problem with August birthdays (my LO and I are both August) is you are always the youngest, or if held back, the oldest in your class. We do celebrate LO's 'half' birthday in Feb and that's great: just us, mini-party, not the big deal w/ everyone like it is in Aug.

[Anonymous]

I am curious about the number of posters saying you would not want to be the oldest in the class. It seems like being the oldest would put kids at an advantage - more developed intellectually and physically.

[Anonymous]

it's 10:00. Just wanted to share you a great talk of Brene Brown on the power of vulnerability. Enjoy!

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

[Anonymous]

10:07 here -- thanks for the link. Very inspiring and right on. Before my miscarriage, I wouldn't have really been open to hearing what she had to say. But now I completely get it. Thanks, 10:00.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about the number of posters saying you would not want to be the oldest in the class. It seems like being the oldest would put kids at an advantage - more developed intellectually and physically.

It does put them at an advantage, especially boys. I'm a summer baby myself and I thought it had downsides. Nothing life changing, but just downsides. No school party (I was always so jealous of the school parties for the other kids), I drove late, and I turned 21 late (when compared to my peers). I also was a late bloomer physically (i.e., puberty) and being younger for my class just made this worse. 7th and 8th grade were very tough years for me. I was still very much a little girl when most of the other girls were not. It was painful and awkward. But I suppose someone could post saying they had boobs in the 5th grade and that was tough too. We all have our challenges, I guess.

[Anonymous]

I have three children born in August, December and April. April is by far the best scenario! Because you are barely pregnant in the summer at all. I much preferred the Winter maternity clothes. And the weather is great in the Spring for maternity leave.

As far as school ages, my August "baby" is the youngest in class, come High School it makes a bigger difference, especially as a boy playing Sports. My December "baby" is the oldest but I had to make decisions whether to start her or keep her back because the school birthday cut-off was right at her birthday that year. But, my April "baby" is right in the middle- it's so much easier-plenty ready for Kindergarten by Fall having to worry about starting too early or too late.

One more thing is you have the nice weather of the Spring and into the Summer to take the baby out in the stroller and walk off that pregnancy weight!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm due for an early May baby -- it seems pretty ideal. I was able to wear big sweaters and hold off on maternity shirts for longer, only started getting huge now, so I don't need a maternity coat (I can just wear a normal coat and leave it open -- I'm so warm all the time that I haven't needed to button up for a month! Won't have to be preg during the hottest months, and I'll have FMLA from May-August.

I'm pretty happy at the way it worked out, because we started trying almost a year before we conceived. So, my thoughts are -- don't try for a certain time, because you really don't know how long it'll take, so you might as well just go for it whenever you feel ready to take the plunge.

lol, I am due with dc3 the first week of May and I have been enormous for months! Sad addiction to giant burritos and Twix bars this entire pregnancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm due for an early May baby -- it seems pretty ideal. I was able to wear big sweaters and hold off on maternity shirts for longer, only started getting huge now, so I don't need a maternity coat (I can just wear a normal coat and leave it open -- I'm so warm all the time that I haven't needed to button up for a month! Won't have to be preg during the hottest months, and I'll have FMLA from May-August.

I'm pretty happy at the way it worked out, because we started trying almost a year before we conceived. So, my thoughts are -- don't try for a certain time, because you really don't know how long it'll take, so you might as well just go for it whenever you feel ready to take the plunge.

lol, I am due with dc3 the first week of May and I have been enormous for months! Sad addiction to giant burritos and Twix bars this entire pregnancy.

And you are still on TTC forum??