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Conception

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Original poster

Is waiting to TTC an autumn baby actually a thing people do?

46 replies

togethersinging · 12/10/2023 20:16

It’s my view that it doesn’t make much of a difference but I’ve seen it said on here quite a lot that September/October born babies are more ready for school than those born in the summer.

TTC and told a friend and she asked why we wouldn’t wait for the sake of a couple of months.

On the other hand I’ve heard that September is the busiest time for births and with the NHS already stretched, is that really the month to aim to have a baby in?

OP posts:
cosymama2020 · 12/10/2023 20:23

I’ve never heard of that! To be fair I think most posters on this forum want a baby regardless of when little one is born

Roseberry22 · 12/10/2023 20:26

I used to always say I wouldn’t want an August baby due to being the youngest in school or a Christmas baby, now I’d take any month!

FigandHoney · 12/10/2023 20:28

It would be incredibly difficult to try and time a baby. Very lucky if you get pregnant first time trying. And otherwise it might take you years If you only ever try in the months that will result in an autumn baby

DramaAlpaca · 12/10/2023 20:29

I have to admit that years ago I did exactly this with my third child, who arrived as planned in September.

A lot of good that did me, we moved abroad before he started school to Ireland. It's quite common here to delay school entry for a year, so instead of being one of the eldest in his class, half of the children were older than him!

PurplePetalPip · 12/10/2023 20:29

Before we tried to conceive, I always thought I'd like a September or October baby for those very reasons. I was also born in September and liked being one of the oldest.

However when we decided we were ready to have a baby, I was having a few health issues which meant we weren't sure how easy it would be to conceive and so we decided to just go for it as it could take a while to get pregnant. We didn't really care when it would be born in the end.

As it happened I fell pregnant pretty much straightaway and ended up with an August baby! D'oh! But he's doing just great. Not started school yet but he's fantastic and I'm confident he will thrive.

I do get why you would wait but it's hard to plan these things sometimes. The baby could be born early for example or you could take a few months to conceive. If you want a baby and are ready, just go for it.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 12/10/2023 20:31

More fool them- summer babies=less childcare costs :)

DanceMumTaxi · 12/10/2023 20:34

Both of mine are September and were planned that way. I appreciate that an awful lot of luck was involved though and if we hadn’t conceived quickly I wouldn’t have stopped if our babies were likely to be summer born. The reason for September was mainly because I’m a teacher and it worked out well for my maternity leave - we don’t get to save up holiday like some other industries can. This meant I could afford to have pretty much a year off work. The second reason is because it can be a bit of an advantage being older in the year in the infants. However, this does even out as the child gets older so doesn’t matter so much by the time they’re in juniors.

WeWereInParis · 12/10/2023 20:35

You can't plan these things like that anyway. I mean if you were thinking about it like that, you wouldn't want to plan for a September due date - what if they came early. So you'd want to plan for October-March/April maybe? That's a relatively small window before you're then into the summer months.
I guess if you have no health issues and are relatively young, you could delay a month if when you start TTC it would be an August due date, but if aiming for an October due date meant delaying 6 months, I wouldn't do that.

UpUpUpU · 12/10/2023 20:38

My son is a late summer baby and started school 5 weeks after turning 4. He is thriving!
He absolutely would not have done well spending another year in nursery, would have been bored and far behind his peers. Plus another year of childcare costs!

Anngin · 12/10/2023 20:43

I used to avoid ttc March time (Christmas baby) but years of ttc I'd be happy with any month.

EveSix · 12/10/2023 20:48

I'm a primary school teacher and mother of two summer-born DC.

Both DC have definitely been obvious summer-borns and had to work extra hard in primary school to keep up with older classmates. One DC has dyslexia and things have been a serious uphill struggle for them.

I see it all the time at work; in fact, it's one of the first things I check when I get a new class list. When analysing class assessment data, I often filter by birthday, and am rarely surprised, finding younger pupils' attainment broadly reflecting their age.

In my class last year, all bar 2 pupils were born after April. Our SATs results plummeted. I realise the cohort was also one of the ones most impacted by covid lockdowns, but it was an incredibly young cohort, and that definitely played a part.

Idunno8 · 12/10/2023 20:49

Yes I did this with my second, 3rd of September. First child was April though and timing wise getting up with a small baby when its light is alot easier than when its pitch black.

Dessertinthedesert · 12/10/2023 20:50

It’s fairly easy now to defer summer borns starting reception until the September after they have turned 5.

redribbonrose · 12/10/2023 21:39

I remember not wanting a winter baby

But then we had to do ivf and the choice of timing was gone

3luckystars · 12/10/2023 21:42

Maybe teachers do try to plan certain times of the year but that’s understandable.

I have no idea what your friend means about being ready for school though?

The Midwife told me they call September babies ‘the Christmas presents’ so maybe that’s why it’s busy then.

WeWereInParis · 12/10/2023 21:50

3luckystars · 12/10/2023 21:42

Maybe teachers do try to plan certain times of the year but that’s understandable.

I have no idea what your friend means about being ready for school though?

The Midwife told me they call September babies ‘the Christmas presents’ so maybe that’s why it’s busy then.

She means that they'll start school at nearly 5, rather than just turned 4 if born in the summer (if going to school in England).

MrsSamR · 12/10/2023 21:51

I was born in September and my husband December so we were both on the positive end of being born at the 'right' end of the school year so for our second baby we did skip out TTC in October/November which would have resulted in July/August birthdays. We tried again in the New Year and ended up with an October baby. No regrets but appreciate we were lucky.

FWIW our first baby was born at the end of May as we were initially so keen to start TTC and our daughter is 3 and a half now and so far seems bright and her speech is very good so we have no concerns about her starting school next September despite her being young for her year so it really depends on the child.

Best of luck with it all!

3luckystars · 12/10/2023 21:52

Oh ok I’m in Ireland and you can send them at 4 or 5, depending on how you feel yourself. Thanks for explaining that.

joles1 · 12/10/2023 21:56

Yes we did this, planned for an October baby (well it was my suggestion, DP wasn't fussed on the timing) and DS was born 2nd October so perfect timing but I understand we were very lucky to conceive straight away and this isn't always the case. I planned it so that he would be one of the oldest in school but also I will always have fond memories of maternity leave with a newborn in the autumn and how cosy it was. I would hate to have a summer baby, If we have another I would hope for another October/November baby but don't expect it to be that easy again.

buttercupcake · 12/10/2023 21:59

Yep, we did this. Our first 2 babies were summer babies, so we made sure the second 2 were autumn babies.

OooohAhhhh · 12/10/2023 22:06

Roseberry22 · 12/10/2023 20:26

I used to always say I wouldn’t want an August baby due to being the youngest in school or a Christmas baby, now I’d take any month!

I have both 😂

arlequin · 12/10/2023 22:15

I have had 2 Sep babies with the latest a c section on Sep 1st! Have to admit it was planned as I am a teacher

SnookyPook · 12/10/2023 22:18

Well, I hadn't planned anything, things just happened when they happened... And if I hadn't had a MMC in April, I'd be giving birth to an October baby at the end of this month. Unfortunately mother nature had other plans. After a CP last cycle, I've just had another BFP and realise now that if I'm lucky enough for this one to make it, they will be a June baby. But I have to say, after the year I've had, a healthy baby, born at any time of year, would be just great! I'll worry about how they're doing at school when we get to it.

XenaTheWarriorPrincess · 12/10/2023 22:43

I actually wanted an April baby, nothing to do with school and everything to do with it not being too hot or too cold with a newborn.

I started ttc in like February though, so I wasn't overly fussed about it just wanted a baby and didn't want to wait.

Just under 12 weeks now, due date April 28th, so it worked out totally coincidentally.

DrCoconut · 13/10/2023 10:12

I've heard that September babies are a result of Christmas/New Year! But it's not a great time to have a newborn as the weather is turning and just as you're feeling like getting out and about it's cold and wet. My April baby was the best time as I had the summer ahead of me for maternity leave.