to deliberately conceive a Christmas baby?

[greenbananas]

If I were to get pregnant this month, the baby would be due in mid-December. Is it unfair to give a child a birthday that is so close to Christmas?

I am 38 and I suppose that's why I'm a bit uncomfortable about hanging about. Time is not on my side. Having said that, I was very lucky that DS was conceived the same month we started trying, and my whole family is full of honeymoon babies and 'happy accidents' - so there's a fair chance that if we try this week there will be a baby here in December 2011...

AIBU? Does anybody have experience of birthdays being in December?

My birthday is the 28th PITA to be honest. No-one wants to celebrate, everyone already overdone it on eating and has lots of left overs in the fridge to finish off so wouldnt want to pay for a meal. Pubs are all empty (thats if theyre open).
Lots of xmas paper on birthday presents, or just one pressie for both xmas and birthday (sometimes a bigger pressie to compensate but often times not)and have even had PS Happy Birthday written on xmas cards quite a few times. That said it makes the school holidays extra special as the presents seem to keep coming each day as different family members turn up.
Think youre overthinking the due date though, it really doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things.

Christmas babies are wonderful - ds2 was born on 26th Dec - Christmas is always extra special now. ( although I didn't plan it )

It's not good to have a birthday very close to Christmas but the so-called due date spans a full 4 weeks even without prematurity, so I don't think it's worth wearing condoms for.

Well I think some of you must have very unfeeling friends & family if they can´t be bothered to buy seperate bday gifts, wrap them in bday paper & celebrate with you!

DD2 arrived (5 weeks early) on Xmas Eve - she is only 2 so far so doesn't have an opinion. However, we buy her main X as gift in the summer - and do the same for DD1 who has a September birthday. DD1 is very happy with this situation - they had a balance bike (DD1)and a picnic table/sandpit (DD2) last year so it means we can justify buying large summer gifts when they have time to play with them straight away.

They don't seem to miss not having big gifts at Xmas as they get so much from other people (and we just bought them two of the toys in the 2 for £15 from Argos last year - plus stocking stuff).

I did make a big point on DD2's first birthday about not accepting any birthday gifts in Xmas paper or joint gifts - not that we make a big fuss about birthdays in general but I wanted to set a precedent. When she is older we will probably have a party on the last day of school perhaps - although have a couple of years to sort that as DD1 only just had her first party (4th birthday).

We have a lot of Dec/Jan birthdays in the extended family though and almost everyone is between November and February.

and as for giving birth on Christmas Eve - it was all fine and merry; although I discharged myself at 7pm (DD2 arrived at 12.46pm) although we had to leave the baby behind in NICU, which was much easier as DD1 had also arrived early (8 weeks)!

Thank you all for your responses This is really, really helpful!

I think I agree with those of you who say I am overthinking this. Part of me still wants to just crack on with ttc, but then again, I'm so sad for those of you who have had negative experiences of December and January birthdays.

I've just talked to DH again about this and he says we should wait for 2-3 months. Reading this thread, I think he's right. (Also, looking on the bright side, that gives me enough time to tidy up properly and paint over the marks on the kitchen wall before morning sickness overtakes me )

I can remember thinking exactly the same thing when we conceived our last Dc a DS who was due dec 14th but arrived dec 24th.

I also thought of all the ladies online who were having diffuclty ttc and wouldn't care when a baby was born.

With that thought in mind we didi ttc and DS was the result.

We have a very small "party" on his actual birthday and then a proper party (frients, food cake etc) on the saint's day of his name ( catholic calendar is GREAT for this )

I was due in December (but was early) and my brother is also a December baby - 28th. Honestly, it's FINE! I'd be more inclined to avoid August if I was going to deliberately avoid any month xx

I was born between Christmas and new year and so were two of my siblings.

I have never had a Birthday cake, a party etc
This year I got 1 card. I myself never miss anyones Birthday, always there with a present and card.

With the Christmas holidays and everyone going out so much coming up to Christmas I get nothing done for my BDay ever.

I absolutely hate my Birthday. It's miserable !!!

On the other hand I wouldn't not have a baby for such a reason.

DD1's birthday is 15th Jan, but DD2's birthday is Xmas Eve.

I remember saying (when we were trying to conceive) that if we did fall pregnant, that she would be an Xmas baby- her due date was 22nd December, but the lazy bugger was two days late! Whilst in labour on Xmas Eve, the midwife said that if I held on for another 10 hours I would have an Xmas Day baby- there were lots of expletives in my retort

Staying is hospital over Xmas wasn't 100% perfect as my family left @ 6pm for their turkey dinner and lots of alcohol @ home, and we were left with the Xmas edition of Eastenders in the TV room in the hospital!

She will be 10 this year, and I can honestly say that she doesn't have an issue with her birthday- we have a family birthday party (if anything DD1's nose is out of joint because she doesn't get her 'family party')

We do ensure have a rule that she has separate b'day and Xmas pressies and everyone follows this rule. We also do not wrap the b'day pressies in Xmas paper; it has to be wrapped in b'day paaper!

DD2's b'day is not unusaual- My Mum's b'day is New Year's Day, and recently my sister gave birth on 1/1/11, so we have loads of 'special days around Xmas/NY.

We have a special family, and wouldn't change it for anything.

Surely having a baby is about more than whether a public holiday will get in the way of celebrating their birthday?

For those with December birthdays, maybe your parents should have done more to make your day special.

However I will say, as an august baby, I have no idea what it would have been like being born in December.

My son was born Dec 22nd (last Christmas) because I had IVF at the end of March 2010. The thought that Christmas would be inconvenient or wrong never crossed my mind while I was going through treatment.

So I say go for it, but be aware that you may not be as fertile as all that and it could take you ages.

DD was due on christmas day, she came on the 15th December. She seems pretty pleased with her christmas birthday.

My birthday on the other hand is on the 30th December and I loved it until I hit my teens and then I realised that no one ever wants to go out the night before NYE. DD will be ok though, her birthday falls in the christmas party season.

So you should aim for precisely the middle of December, get cracking...

I cannot afford a big birthday for ds.My moneys gone after xmas his birthday is in Jan he was 2weeks late.He was supposed to b a december baby.He only has a tea party.Feel a bit sad as his friends have propar partys

DS was born on the 27th and tbh we didn't think about when baby would be due when ttc. We were just happy with me getting pregnant! Atm he loves his birthday being so close but if he changes that then we'll probably have a party with his friends for him in the summer.

i was feeling a bit bad there for not skipping ttc this month. i am way too impatient after only 5 months to give a monkeys when imaginary baby no 2 would be born!

glad there were some positive stories and not everyone hates a December birthday. think i will carry on with SWI week which commences today.

my SIL has a December birthday and her baby was due in December as well, didn't come out till January though!

We planned on having a summer 2011 baby. So around this time last year we thought we'd practice a bit, because with my age/declining fertility it would take a while anyway ... needless to say our DS2 turned up on the 18th of Dec. 2010, a week overdue. :-)
I wouldn't trade him for a different birthday ever!
No idea how we'll handle it yet, maybe we'll do half-birthdays in summer? (His name day falls in Dec. too. I'm not catholic so didn't think about this possibility beforehand.)

My Dad and brother both have Dec. birthdays and survived. In fact my Dad's birthday is the 22nd of Dec. and has always been celebrated in a fairly big way on the Sunday before Christmas. All his friends know each other and use it as the last non-family get together for the year. And everyone can always come because the date has been fixed for years. (In fact his buddies celebrated his birthday a few times without him while he was living overseas.)

(Mind you, DS1 has a summer birthday which will probably fall in the school holidays 9 times out of 10, so that isn't ideal either.)

My DD has her birthday on 20th December. She was conceived after years of trying and very strangely arrived on my BILs first birthday after he died.
I couldn't have cared if she had arrived during Christmas dinner. Very wanted and will never have a 'crap' birthday with us, even if others forget.

As said before my DD2 is 28th dec, a happy accident shall we say, but very much wanted and loved :)
we make a fuss on her birthday, so far has worked well as been a bank holiday, we have had a house full of family and friends, and lots of birthday balloons :)
I make sure I always get her one big special birthday present entirely seperate from xmas, this year she got a micro mini scooter :)
My family and friends have so far been excellent at making a distinction, so hoepfully becomes a tradition to carry on.
Wouldnt have it any other way :) Just feel so blessed to have her, very nearly didnt !

my DS was due 18th Jan, arrived on dec 31st i think i rather it was december , i detest January :)He doesn't seem to mind just now but then he's only 2! I would try to conceive a december baby again though,as the hospital was terrible understaffed because of all the holidays

don't do it! my birthday is early jan and everyone is skint and still recovering from Christmas so it's always a non-event.
also DDs birthday is just before Christmas which is her own bloody fault for being 10 days late, but it's hideously expensive. this year, we have her 21st just days before Christmas!

My sister's birthday is 18th december and it has never been an issue - just a lovely atmosphere. My daughter was born on jan 4th although she was due 2nd jan, not an issue as result of IVF so just happy to have her. As it was her first birthday this year we bought some presents to give to her in the summer when more age appropriate.

We never even considered this when ttc dc3.

Until the scan and the due date was given as 24th December!

The biggest problem was worrying that I would actually give birth on 24/25th December - as we had 3 year old twins and I wanted to be at home with them on Christmas Day.

I spent all of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day hoping that I wouldn't go into labour.

I then went into labour on the 30th and ended up giving birth at 10 pm on New Years Eve (now spend every NYE at home having a tea party for DD2!)

DD2 (now 5 )tells everyone that her birthday is the last day of every year and is quite proud of it. She did think for a long time that every child her age had a Christmas tree and decorations up for their birthday

My birthday is 23rd December and it's not that much of a big deal. I used to have joined Birthday and Christmas parties which I loved for the double presents