Would you put off conceiving to avoid a summer born child?

[Algor1thm]

We're ready to try for our second, but have realised that Aug-Nov conceptions lead to summer born babies. Summer born children statistically have worse academic outcomes than those born earlier in the school year. You can now request a deferral, but I gather this can be quite a difficult process with no guarantees. Our first is late autumn/early winter born and I'm very glad they will be closer to 5 when they start school.

However my husband doesn't want to wait until Dec/Jan to start trying as we're already looking at a fairly large age gap, and he pointed out we don't know how long it'll take us to conceive/we could experience pregnancy loss which would set us back etc. We're in our early-mid 30s so not old, but we are several years older than the last time we ttc, so I don't want to assume it'll be straightforward.

Particularly interested to hear from summer borns... do you think we should wait a few more months for the benefit of having an autumn rather than summer born child?

Do it! (Put it off). I was convinced by DH to TTC in October despite being aware of the issue. I agreed thinking that I couldn’t succeed first time, and it happened instead. Managed to defer due to his delays but would have liked to avoid the stress

@AppleBottomRats then provide credible
links?

Another one here who's an august baby but was supposed to be October (and graduated from Oxford with a first-class degree).

I think your husband is right - if you wait this year, then have complications, you may well end up in this exact same position next year.

If you want another baby I would just start trying.

@DoItAfraid there is loads of evidence - it’s the reason summer born children are allowed to
defer school entry.
ifs.org.uk/comms/r80.pdf
pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/younger-children-experience-lower-levels-of-language-competence-and-academic-progress-in-the-first-year-of-school(24e3f2a0-d6d6-4539-b621-426b026b3fb4).html
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21579484
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/182664/DFE-RR017.pdf
www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/nov/01/birth-month-affects-results-well-being#data

DT’s born early July - all A’s at A levels and both got 1st class degrees. Started full time nursery at six months - no social or academic difficulties when they started school at 4 years 2 months. Didn’t agree with staggered start so sent them full time from day one.

This isn’t to say that individuals born in the summer can’t be successful or high-achieving academically. But it is known that at the overall population level, summer born children are disadvantaged academically.

I included a link above regarding Oxbridge admissions. This actually varies depending on subject. DP and I both went to Oxbridge and did different subjects - he did maths and I did a humanities subject. He was born in the summer and I was born in the winter. He was apparently shown in a lecture that maths is the one subject where birth month actually does not appear to make a significant impact on likelihood of admission.

My DS is mid-July and has never struggled.

I think the only time I had a wobble was when we took him to meet his nursery teacher (school nursery, so he was only just turned three, we were meeting her in the July before he was due to start that September).

I remember him toddling around the room and talking to her and I was having to translate as his speech wasn't very clear at all. And I did think then that he was so young to be starting with kids who were already almost 4.

But his speech caught up really quickly and he settled right in with no problems at all. He is very bright, which helped.

He is 14 now and sailing along.

@AppleBottomRats

Saying something is “likely” does not make it categorically a fact.

All the studies are based on averages meaning some will do very well and some will do less well. It doesnt matter what month it is - there will always be a youngest and an oldest in a school year - no matter the system.

Also holding kids back a year is not without it’s
own disadvantages that need to be weighed up - preferably once your child is actually in front of you.

Stop making it seem like it is a given that all summer babies are facing poor school outcomes.

But I guess what I find odd about this is that there are a wealth of advantages to a summer baby and yet all that seems to matter is academic achievement... what if despite planning a September baby, you end up with a kid with no interest in academics who flunks school? It's a capitalist nightmare 😂

No we didn't as we'd had a few losses. As it happened he was two weeks late so we have the eldest in the school year (which comes with its own issues!)

Oh, I should also say that my brother was born on 31st August, so was the very youngest in his year, and he never struggled either. I always thought it was funny that my best mate was born 1st September, so she was only a year younger than my brother, but they were two school years apart. If he'd been born one day later and she one day earlier, they'd have been in the same year 😯

There has to be a cut-off somewhere, though!

Where did I say it was a given? In fact I said the opposite. My point was that there is a strong body of objective evidence on this and individual anecdotes do not mean that the statistical evidence is a ‘sweeping statement’ or untrue.

My son was born in July.
His sisters are born in September, March and April. He definitely had a tougher time, particularly at reception class , little things struggled doing up his coat and carrying lunch tray at dinner time as well as education/ emotionally. Even going through to secondary it can put them at a disadvantage and are less mature if they go straight to.uni after a levels too, so I knoW you cant absolutely plan these things but I think I would try and avoid a july/ August birthday- never occurred to me at the time though!

DD was due at the end of August. I felt a bit worried she'd struggle being so young in the school year but also pleased I'd save a year of nursery fees. She ended up being born at the start of September which is much better for her academically as she was 5 before she even had her first day at school but that extra year of nursery fees killed us financially.

My dc were October/ December born, appear to be doing fine in school, they are average I would say, they arw where they should be. I was summer born, I wouldn't say I struggled in primary but I didn't want to read or write. I would rather have been playing. I think I only learnt to read at end of primary. That said I lived reading from then on. I have read 100s of books, I have 10 Gcses, 3 A levels, a degree and a post grad diploma. My winter born sister has GCSE and A levels, dropped out of uni (which was fine, wasn't for her). So I don't know really. I suppose its partly down to when you are born, partly down to personality/parents support? My mum always encouraged me to try hard in school which helped.

Honestly, if you want another child, and are concerned at all about the gap, I'd just get cracking and what will be, will be.

My DC1 was conceived on 2nd month of trying when I was 32. DC 2 took a year and a half and 2 miscarriages to be conceived. By the time of the birth, there are 4.5 years between them. We wanted a smaller gap but there was a time when we didn't know if we would manage to have a DC 2 at all, so we just feel blessed and lucky to have her here with us.

I'm an August baby, my brother was April. I was actually more academic at school but we've both done well in our adult careers.

I have 3 summer born children. The older 2 (11 & 6) are July and August babies have done well in school since they started and in some areas exceeding. Mainly they are at their expected level. 6 year old is exceeding at reading and 11 year old is exceeding at maths. I think aslong as you support your child at home alongside school they will do well ( I also work in education and you can defo tell which children get support at home and who don’t) and even
autumn/spring/winter children can struggle. My niece is September born and she struggled much more in reception than my summer born.
My 3rd summer born is only a baby so yet to find out how he will do in school.

DS2 was summer born, it didn't make much difference compared to his autumn born siblings. DH has an August birthday, hasn't really impacted him either.
I notice in school that some classes are generally younger as a cohort, and in most classes you can't tell who is summer born or not by the time they are about 8 or 9.
But the school does ask teachers to be aware of when childrens birthdays fall, not sure whether this is to adjust assessment scores appropriately or for some other reason.

I’m a summer baby and it never held me back. Was in top set for everything and even took my maths GCSE a year early so was 14 when I sat it (and got an A).

The only years I didn’t like my birthday were 16 (friends passing their driving test before I could even get started!) and 18 (going out/drinking).

All the positives of a summer birthday remain true for life whereas the negatives are short lived. I’m very glad of my summer birthday as an adult. Also, if you remain friends with school mates as an adult you can tease them about how old they are!

Here is evidence, for those that doubt:

ifs.org.uk/wps/wp1006.pdf

Or something easier to digest: www.theguardian.com/education/2010/jul/29/august-children-worst-gcse-results

Grammar school entrance tests standardise scores to adjust for age. Younger children need a lower raw score than older children.

Yes it was a sweeping statement. Statistically summer born children have worse outcomes on average. I obviously understand that there are many individuals who do okay (myself being one of them!) But I'm also hugely critical of the fact that we send children to school at 4, I'd prefer 6 (and there's a lot of evidence to back that up). But seeing as we live here, almost 5 seems preferable to just turned 4!

Thanks so much to everyone for their perspectives. We're still completely undecided, but it was nice to hear everyone's points of view!

Just wanted to clear up that I am fully aware that I'm not able to choose my baby's due date - I thought I made that clear in the original post but maybe not! I do understand that it could take a while to conceive, I could experience a loss or I could have a baby born prematurely. All factors I'm taking into consideration! Thanks again.