How common is timing conception with the aim of giving birth in a specific month of the year?

[GossipFinch]

I read an article a while back where Davina McCall was talking about timing the conception of all of her DCs so she would give birth in the autumn after Big Brother was finished. She has 3 DCs and believe she had them all in September or October. I recall she said she couldn't bear the thought of having to go on maternity leave and having to give up the job of hosting BB when it was one of the most popular shows on TV in the early to mid-2000s.

The thought occurred to me - do 'normal' women ever try to time conception in a similar manner? I've heard that anecdotally, some women don't want August babies because they will be noticeably smaller than other children in their class who were born earlier. I personally didn't think about what month was best to conceive DCs in - I was just happy to conceive at all. Any thoughts MN?

I think the school thing is a much bigger issue in England than Scotland, huge stereotype but it really doesn’t seem a thought here.

like others pregnancies for me were a miracle after traumatic losses so zero thought given.

I think its common at the start of a journey. DH wanted to avoid a Christmas baby, 5 years down the road, we got a Christmas Eve baby.

Teacher here. Started trying in the Jan with both my kids. Got October and February.

I've spoken to teachers who aim for the start of school holidays, so they get a years mat leave plus the following summer.

I also know a guy in the music industry who aimed for start of the year when the industry is quiet.

Ideally I wanted spring babies as I was one and enjoyed having my birthday in nice weather but ended up with September and October babies

Due to fertility issues, I’d long since stopped caring about the due date by the time I got pregnant!

I think I'm just jealous you had the time and fertility to potentially keep stopping and starting ttc for half the year! And I know it's 7 months but a Sept baby could easily be an August baby and a Jan baby could easily be a Dec baby so I'm assuming you accounted for that

I was adamant I wouldn't have another summer heavily pregnant when I had my oldest, and said we'd aim for a November/December conception.... Jokes on me though because we then moved to the UK and had a surprise baby conceived in December 😂😂😂

Mine are all random. July, August, December and February

My eldest was lucky born in April as he was one of the oldest in his class throughout school.

I tried to when I naively thought that getting pregnant was as easy as coming off the pill and doing the deed! After many years of infertility I was very grateful for my IVF Christmas baby

I didn't want summer babies as I didn't want them to be young in their year. I didn't want to aim for September/October as if baby comes early you end up with a summer-born. So I aimed for winter, and was lucky enough to conceive straight away both times, so I got a December baby and a February baby (14 months apart!).

I aimed to conceive DC2 for a September birthday (teacher so best for long period off for mat leave). Fell pregnant first month trying but that ended as a chemical. Tried every month for a year and genuinely just wanted to be pregnant no matter which month it was. DD2 was born in September by coincidence.

Absolutely common to time pregnancy with other life commitments. I had an accident but was due in October which I thought would be good school wise, instead came in August so youngest in school as well as premature.

An English friend who went to live in Sweden wanted to avoid her babies being born in the Winter. She had a June baby, a July baby and then a gap before an October one.

I planned both mine to be autumn babies, so they would be older when starting school. Partially for the academic advantage, but also for the extra year of playgroups and park outings during the week.

I did get pregnant straight away both times though, so the planing only went as far as waiting until December before ttc. If it had taken longer, I don't think I would have stopped and waited for the next year's time window.

I timed DC1 so he wouldn’t be in the younger half of the school year. He was born December. I timed DC2 so I wouldn’t be suffering hideous ongoing morning sickness on a big family holiday! All good.

My first was unplanned and born in September. Being heavily pregnant in Summer was awful. However, we didn't want babies born too late in the school year. So when we planned my next pregnancies, we aimed to conceive between Feb-Apr. It worked each time. What we didn't realise is having Summer and then all their birthdays and as well as Xmas and NY is expensive!

I didn’t want a July / August baby as didn’t want them to be the youngest in the year. For 4 years I avoided certain months. On the 4th year I didn’t bother avoiding November as I thought it would just be another month with no success. Of course I ended up with a late August born!