Do premature babies run in the family?

[Zoo33]

Exactly that really. I was 6 weeks premature and I’m pretty sure my brother was slightly early (although my family don’t know I’m pregnant yet so I can’t ask!) Both his children were (6/7 weeks and 2 weeks early). It’s still early days for me but I’m curious as to the chances - Google seems to say yes but I wondered what experiences anyone had had?

My midwife last time told me it runs down the fathers side ("as a general rule" but not always). So nothing so much to do with the mother, but the father. You'd have a better idea asking your other halfs mother if he was early or late. That said, it isn't set in stone it's apparently just a better bearing... so I was told anyways!

I think it depends on the reason for the premature delivery. My son was born at 27 weeks, which we found out was due to an infection which triggered labour. In subsequent follow up I have been told that there is not reason to believe that this is likely to happen to me again.
Whereas in the NICU I met lots of women who had had Prem deliveries, and some reasons, e.g. severe pre eclampsia, are likely to recur in subsequent pregnancies.

I was born at 28 weeks, and my older brother was born at 24 weeks (but didn’t survive). My two younger brothers certainly owe the fact they arrived near their due dates to cervical stitches. BUT my own daughter was born at 40+4, even though she has Down’s, which often seems to trigger early labour!

But as PPs have said, really it all depends on the reason for the perm birth...