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Conception

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Original poster

Would you try for a December baby

102 replies

Lola19 · 04/03/2023 13:57

I don’t know if I’m being silly here.. I think we have missed our chance to conceive this month which I am gutted about. However next month would mean a December and then a January baby. I always feel sorry for my friends born in December/Jan as I feel their birthdays get overlooked a bit.. plus I can imagine it is difficult buying birthday and Christmas presents for your little one at the same time! So just wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether they would intentionally miss out trying for a December baby or am I being ridiculous because at the end of the day that could be the month that we do fall?

OP posts:
Spectre8 · 04/03/2023 17:12

Dwcemeber baby right in between Xmas and New yr. I dont mind but what really sucks when its a milestone bday like 40 and not one of your friends for once will make themselves free to celebrate on your actual day.

So sometimes it really sucks. Cos of course noone is going to come when they have travelled to stay with family

I now just celebrate my bday as a me day instead and don't rely on anyone being free its liberating in a way cos I never have a crap bday 😆

Spraylatter · 04/03/2023 17:12

I love a January birthday. Everyone says it’s a doom and gloom month but with a birthday to plan and cake it’s never felt like that!

iliveinhappyvalley · 04/03/2023 17:15

Skip December and January. My birthday 20 December is rubbish. As a child my parents made sure it was celebrated as an adult no one bothers to the extent my DF suggested I had an 'official' birthday like the Queen in a month that was not so problematic.

TheNyx · 04/03/2023 17:35

Rosafiona · 04/03/2023 14:14

If I was 22 and healthy, then yes I'd avoid Dec/Jan. If I was 35, or overweight, or had pcos/endo, or my DP had health issues, then no I wouldn't risk skipping two chances.
So it depends!

This

I have a January birthday and always hated it growing up. One of my poor cousins is the day after boxing day and no one ever remembered it or got him one gift for both occasions ><

My DD is July and that seems great as we had lovely weather for her 1st birthday last year, a really high turn out and so many more options for doing fun outdoor things.

If you don't have great fertility though it's not exactly worth risking missing your shot

OnMyWayToSenility · 04/03/2023 17:41

I have a January and feb baby 🤣 guess what I love a bank holiday may 1st or possibly Easter 🤔

Love their birthdays brighten up the year ! They however, are not keen
Straight after Christmas
Always cold and shite
They get all big presents all at once and inevitably I end up buying bikes and other milestone presents in the middle of Summer!

Either way if you want a baby and it's your time there is no rhyme or reason!

OnMyWayToSenility · 04/03/2023 17:43

Just add I'm an august baby and it's a lovely birthday but spent nearly all of them on holiday 😀 great when you are older but not so fun at school

PurpleBananaSmoothie · 04/03/2023 17:44

I was due with DD in December but she arrived in November, what if they’re early? How many months are you prepared to miss?

I think there can be disadvantages to most birthday months if you think about it. Me, DH and my mum all dislike our February, March and April birthdays because of Valentines Day, Mother’s Day and Easter. My friend with an August baby was worried about them starting school and most of their friends are now on holiday for their birthday.

JumbledE · 04/03/2023 17:44

My two are Dec and Jan birthdays. It’s a minor inconvenience but we make up for it by celebrating end of the school year with a few gifts (to entertain them through the holidays!) It took us a long time to conceive so it didn’t occur to us to stop trying for those months and I’m glad we didn’t!

YippeeKiYay155 · 04/03/2023 17:46

My eldest was born on Christmas day and my youngest in November. Its never been a big deal. My eldest doesn't mind sharing her birthday with Christmas. We have always made sure that her birthday present and Christmas presents are separate.

schmalex · 04/03/2023 17:47

I'm a boxing day baby so I avoided Dec/Jan!

Stressedafff · 04/03/2023 17:49

I’m a January 17th baby, I loved it, yeah the weathers shit but the lull of the post Xmas period always didn’t seem so bad as I had something to look forward to

DD was born New Years Eve, that’s abit manic but I just buy throughout the year

Klex · 04/03/2023 18:09

I was born in December. I call it the shit-birthday club.

From my late teens onwards it's been impossible to hold a party at a restaurant- everyone has plans.
And when you do get one booked they want a deposit "because it's a Christmas party" (even though you tell them it's a birthday party), get stuck with the Christmas menu (despite it being a birthday) and if you're a small group you get stick next to the toilets.

That said I wouldn't put it off just for that. You'll avoid being heavily pregnant in the hot weather.

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 04/03/2023 18:18

No. I'm a December birthday & really disliked only getting presents during 1 month of the year as a child. I never told anyone or moaned about it but I was alway jealous of my friends who had birthdays March-October because they got to unwrap something in another month. And as pp have said, you struggle to book a meal out for your birthday & if you manage it it's mainly Christmas food. Plus room rates rise so even booking a night away is more expensive.

My dc have Feb, March, May, June & July birthdays. I think the 3 later in the year have the 'best' birthdays. The May & June normally have nice weather so we can have a bbq & we're normally abroad for the July one (which is a nice distraction from the fact he can't have a party because it falls in the summer hols).

MaraScottie · 04/03/2023 18:18

My son is a 1st Jan baby, was due on Dec 25th.

I did so the calculations before he was conceived but never thought it would happen! Now I get panicked wondering what would happen if we had waited, because he is just the best kid ever - wouldn't change a thing.

SleepingStandingUp · 04/03/2023 18:25

Like a PP said it depends on where you are. If you're young and aren't aware of any fertility issues and you've time to burn then you can skip all over the place and avoid Dec, Jan, Aug, your best mates wedding etc.
But there's no guarantee.

My July baby was May. My Jan babies were Dec. My sisters June baby was April. Her March baby was Jan.

Feb or March baby could be Dec or Jan easily.

You can NOT overlook your kids birthday even though it's Dec. You can save throughout the year for their presents. You can even do a half year birthday if it's particularly Xmassy.

andpeggy1 · 04/03/2023 18:26

As someone been trying to conceive for. 2 years, suffered 2 miss carriages, don't be picky about months to potentially have a baby x

Thisisthewaywe · 04/03/2023 18:30

While it is wise to bear in mind that absolutely, babies are born prematurely, MN can be a bit too over cautious about it.

Stats are - 57.5 percent of all recorded births occur between 39 and 41 weeks. 26 percent of births occur at 37 to 38 weeks. About 7 percent of births occur at weeks 34 to 36. About 6.5 percent of births occur at week 41 or later.

So yes, especially if your due date is beginning/end of the month it would easily be possible for a baby due 6th December to be born in November. But most babies do arrive more or less on time.

SleepingStandingUp · 04/03/2023 18:39

Thisisthewaywe · 04/03/2023 18:30

While it is wise to bear in mind that absolutely, babies are born prematurely, MN can be a bit too over cautious about it.

Stats are - 57.5 percent of all recorded births occur between 39 and 41 weeks. 26 percent of births occur at 37 to 38 weeks. About 7 percent of births occur at weeks 34 to 36. About 6.5 percent of births occur at week 41 or later.

So yes, especially if your due date is beginning/end of the month it would easily be possible for a baby due 6th December to be born in November. But most babies do arrive more or less on time.

The point isn't so much how high the rate of premature deliveries are (altho none of our lads have gone past 36 weeks) its that if you're going to get up about not having a baby in this month and that month then you need to consider that even at 38 weeks that's the difference between early Feb and end of Jan doom, 41 weeks could push your late Nov baby into Dec. So now you're avoiding being due mid Nov to mid Feb so that's 3 of 12 months. Then it's the August kids do terribly in school so you shouldn't have an August baby, so need to avoid mid July to mid September. So that's 5 out of 12 months.
It takes the average person a year to TTC. If you're stopping and starting trying for half a year that's two years.

If you struggle you're meant to ttc for 2 years before help, by rights then it's 4 years.

I'd worry someone stopping and starting for the perfect time is going to really struggle with the imperfections of parenthood

2chocolateoranges · 04/03/2023 18:44

Hubby and our eldest are December birthday, they don’t get overlooked, still have parties and nights out for their birthday and no one forgets their big day.

it is an expensive month but that’s life. As long as it’s not Christmas Day

CinderRosie · 04/03/2023 19:08

Glad it’s not just me stressing about this. Already have a teenager DC who is late November and that feels too Christmassy. Really don’t fancy another November baby or a December baby BUT I am now just over 35 so don’t have time to waste. We are TTC hopefully from next cycle and my EDD will be end of December if lucky enough to fall pg first try.

NatGee · 04/03/2023 19:14

My SIL has a 26th dec birthday and i think its nice the whole family is already together because of Xmas. It means that more often than not she has everyone there with her

thejadefish · 04/03/2023 19:35

DC1 is a December baby (Christmas eve in fact). If I were young and no fertility problems I'd personally probably try and avoid December although it's not the end of the world that said. Birthday party has to be mid December / before school breaks up really but that's about it DC doesn't mind although I do get asked how long until birthday from February onwards! I would prefer to avoid an August birth too partly because DC friends might not be around to celebrate birthday but also I read that summer born babies do less well academically (don't know if it's true, but DC's friend had a harder time settling in year R than DC which I thought might be due to being younger/July baby found it much more tiring than DC and I think months can still make a difference at that age they're still so young). I'd be more concerned about August than December for that reason. Some December born children have a "half" birthday to space it out, and my friend who was born on Christmas day, in her family they celebrated her birthday in the morning and Christmas in the afternoon.

Pinkandgreentrousers · 04/03/2023 19:51

No I definitely wouldn't and didn't. I stopped trying for 3 months. My birthday is 27th Dec. I hate it.

Honolulu123 · 04/03/2023 19:56

I was 34 when I started TTC and regrettably skipped trying in March & April to avoid dec/Jan baby. It ended up taking us 15 months to get lucky after an ordeal of a time. DD was born in January, I was so happy to have a baby, the month she was born was completely irrelevant.

Muchtoomuchtodo · 04/03/2023 20:08

We actively tried to avoid Nov/Dec/Jan babies.

We have a September and a June.

lots of family members have December birthdays, including one on Boxing Day. While they always get presents, organising parties and nights out is always more tricky than at other times of year. Work Christmas do’s, lack of money/time, it being a bank holiday (dec 26th), dry January….. the list goes on.