Baby boom in lockdown.

[Mindymomo]

Just that really, I cannot believe the amount of new born babies recently where I live.

I'm due in a few weeks and I can tell you now it's nothing to do with lockdown. I actually put off trying for a few months as I thought this virus would be a short thing back in March last year. I then had to fight to get my coil removed as the GPs receptionist said it wasn't urgent and the clinic wasn't taking anyone under 25 for sexual health. Thankfully the nurse at my surgery was a bit more sympathetic. I'm nearly 39 so it wasn't something I could keep putting off.

@sylbunny. Congratulations. One neighbour, I didn’t even know was pregnant although I’ve seen her out lots of times dog walking.

They say rather than producing a baby boom, it's the opposite.

BBC article

I agree, I am due DC3 next week & I have never known so many people to be pregnant whilst I've been pregnant. My neighbour has recently just had a baby, last year I know of about 5/6 people who had babies just before Xmas, I know a few people who have just recently announced their pregnancies. My dad even recently mentioned it to me that a few of the blokes at his work having me tinned their partners being pregnant.

I thought the same until reading the BBC article.

I read somewhere that birth rates have declined since covid started, I think women don't want to risk their lives or a new born life.
I know of 2 friends who were expecting, both caught covid and one was on a ventilator for almost a month followed by another onto just to get her in some sort of state where she can go home. Awful illness

Interesting that it’s actually declining. I work for a company with a very low average age and out of 100 people in our office only a couple have kids.
In the last 6 months so so many of the women have started getting pregnant which I definitely wouldn’t have expected before Covid.
I also think having the ability to wfh full time has been a godsend for some that have experienced a lot of sickness

I think it’s complicated - early on I think a lot of people stopped TTC. Thereafter, when it was clear the pandemic would be a multi-year thing, what I noticed anecdotally was people who could wait, waiting, and those who couldn’t (age/fertility) getting on with it.

Elevated risk of death, horrendous complications and looming economic horror show aside (!) it’s a good time to be pregnant - wfh/furlough especially, if you’re tired and nauseous etc etc being at home is a big help.

I’m due soonish and tbh had put off trying during the first wave then decided that I couldn’t put my life on hold indefinitely just because of COVIDso tried over the summer and autumn.
No idea if other people felt the same or not. I presume there are fewer accidental pregnancies from one night stands etc due to lack of dating so most babies will be born to established couples who probably would have been pregnant anyway around about now.

Aren't we overpopulated enough?

I would have thought the opposite, people who are furloughed and worried about their jobs wouldn't be TTC. People would also be worried about lack of health care during pregnancy, not being able to access baby support groups and antenatal classes. I would expect a dip.

@User133847

Aren't we overpopulated enough?

We are overpopulated due to a large aging population @User133847, not because of babies being born.

This will please Bill Gates.

@User133847

Aren't we overpopulated enough?

Lol. Said on mumsnet. A forum for parents.

I stopped TTC at the start of first lockdown, but then when there was no end in sight we cracked on because we didn't want too much of an age gap between DC1.
Having said that, two of my siblings are also due at the same time (my parents went a bit white in the face when we all announced our pregnancies at the same time!) So anecdotally yes there seems to be a boom here.

I think births are at a low rate due to people worried about health impacts, finances etc...
My brother had a baby at the end of last year (pregnant before covid was a 'thing' here) and it hasn't been overly fun for them. Only one set of grandparents have met, quite lonely for my sister in law whilst my brother works. Don't get me wrong they are overjoyed with their baby but they wish it was in better times

Also my brother wasn't allowed to any scans either which was sad.

I had our second baby in September 2020. The amount of times I've had to point out that I got pregnant in late December and that it wasn't because we were bored in lockdown, which started when I was 14 weeks in unbelievable!

There are actually fewer babies being born so just a coincidence where you live.

@Yorkshirepudding1987 I’m the exact same as you! Had my son in September, pregnant way before the pandemic. As someone who gave birth during a pandemic I would advise people to hold off if able, it wasn’t nice going to scans alone & not receiving the same pre & postnatal care, it was scary & daunting being alone during a lot of the process. I had terrible anxiety awaiting my birth as I never knew if my DP would be allowed in or not. I had a traumatic birth made worse because I was “suspected covid” (although I was septic & extremely unlikely I did have covid) & treatment was nearly withheld due to this. I had to spend a week alone in hospital with 1 30min visit from DP a day & looking after a newborn alone whilst also recovering. If you are able to hold off then I would advise it, it did put a dampener on my experience.

I had my second in November so conceived ore covid (have been asked a number of times if he is a covid baby!!) few of my friends have had babies too but mainly because we all had our first about the same time so the timing for seconds happened to fall in the last year. All 3 of us expected covid to be over when our babies were born. Definitely a lonely time to have a baby.

Every where I go, read things online, watch TV I see pregnant women. I'm not sure if there is a boom or I am more aware because I am super broody.

Huge boom where I live. I cant moan, I'm one of them. 40 women in my department, 9 on or about to go on maternity leave . Its tricky for my midwife to get everyone in the limited number of slots! Incidentally I work on a NICU and premature births have really dropped off! Maybe wfh has helped

I conceived during the first lockdown accidentally - I skipped a period which at the time was being discussed on social media as a lockdown ‘side effect’. I then got so confused about where I was in my cycle that we accidentally got pregnant 🤦 I guess most people aren’t as silly as me though...

The only babies I know where either born just before the first lockdown, or the more recent ones are second babies of people with a 2-3 year old already so classic second baby age gap, and a couple of first babies to professional parents in their late 30’s (so again not surprising). There’s quite a lot of people out locally pushing the prams but I’m sure that’s more noticeable because there’s nowhere to go but the park!