Would you rather have a summer or autumn baby?

[Babydust00]

We will hopefully be trying end of this year. I understand entirely that it’s not possible for the majority of people to plan when they have their babies, if only life worked in that way

In a world where you could plan- would you try in October/November for a summer baby, or December/January for autumn? Thinking of all factors involved, academic, childcare fees, how it must be to give birth in the hottest temperatures, birthday parties growing up…

I really wish I'd had a September baby, simply because of being oldest in the class. The difference in ability between the oldest and youngest in my DD's class is really noticable at reception age, and studies show that the advantage remains. All the other factors like being pregnant during summer and going for walks with a young baby are really minor compared to that lifelong advantage.

I was really pleased when I managed to conceive a baby with a September due date, but sadly it wasn't to be and I had to hurry up and get on with the next attempt due to my age, and ended up with an April baby.

Well if you want your child to be a professional athlete or get in to Oxbridge I thought you had to be born in September to December?

We TTC for over one year and have a July baby.

Pros:
it's nice ot be able to get out of the house when it's not cold and rainy and take long walks with the pram
you can sit outside with baby sleeping in the pram/having tummy time on the mat
being up all night is nice when you are not freezing yourself when feeding
no need for a maternity coat

Cons:
it's hot when pregnant
your baby decides to want to be carried all day and you sweat a lot
all baby classes stop in July for 6-8 weeks and you are utterly bored on your own.

We didn't have an issue with DD being Summer born in school. I know people with autumn born children who havd issues. You can't predict it. But autumn born means a year more childcare fees.

Everyone says it's an advantage to be one of the oldest children in your class but I'm not convinced, one of my children has a September birthday (which I wasn't aiming for necessarily, just happened that way) and I think there are going to be downsides. I have an autumn birthday myself (not September though) and was/am bright, always one of the top in my class, but it can be frustrating to be ahead of everyone, gets boring, sometimes other children can be jealous or resentful and you have friendships problems or even bullying... if a child is always top of the class they are not necessarily going to be stretched as much as children that have more to learn.

I can see that children with July/August birthdays would be at a disadvantage but if I was being purely strategic I wouldn't necessarily aim for September either - not least because of the risk of baby being born early ie in August.

I've already said it but I think spring is much better, roughly in the middle of the school year and just a nice time to have a birthday.

I liked having a spring baby as I am permanently freezing so had a warm winter for once when I was pregnant

Spring is the best of all things.

I have an autumn and a summer baby. November and July.

For the mother,late pregnancy harder in the summer, first trimester easier over the summer months.

for the child particularly if a boy it’s tough being one of the youngest. Much harder than I thought it would be.

I wouldn’t plan a July / August baby.

Thanks everyone this is really interesting, with lots of things I hadn’t thought about. We’re in England. I know this might be selfish way of looking at it but a year less of nursery fees 10-20k saved is a really big positive to having one in summer I think. Even if you just put the money you would’ve paid away for them to have when they’re older! I suppose there’s all sorts to it

Autumn baby.

I have 4, two summer and two winter. Whilst my summers hold their own there is a definite disadvantage. They are both physically and emotionally immature for their age anyway which when combined with the summer birthday makes a notable difference compared to peers. My friend's son took his GCSE's at the same time as DS1 but he was virtually a whole year older (September Vs August) which came with much greater maturity. DS was an entirely different person a year later and would have fared much better with an extra year.

It impacts on sport too. Both of my DS have been small. They are both pretty talented at various things but they are overlooked sometimes based on their stature, this is compounded by their summer birthdays. They can be technically brilliant but they just can't compete for physicality and miss out on opportunities as they are not as physically strong. DS1 is now nearly 18 and has grown in the last few years but he missed out during high school and was often overlooked.

I asked my two (one autumn and one spring) now young adults.

They both said autumn for the following reasons:

They're older in the year so start school with an advantage.

They are first to turn 16 so first asking their group to get a part time job - usually plentiful after Uni students return to their respective Unis / Xmas jobs become available.

First to learn to drive at 17 and seemingly most important, first to be able to go legally clubbing without the need for fake IDs.

The "English summer born thing" isn't really a thing. Or not in my experience, or that of my children.