Why do people time their pregnancies so their due date is September and not August?

[TwinkleStars15]

I’m curious to know why people time their pregnancy so that their baby is born in September/October and not August? I’m assuming it’s about the school year and maybe not being the youngest in their year?

Attitudes to summer born are changing now.

You can now keep them in nursery or preschool till they are 5 and then they can start in reception. So be the oldest in the year. We have done this with DD.

Ah no I agree people do time them. I'm a teacher and would say most of the staff in my school have babies with September - December birth dates. It's a really big deal! I was amazed when I started at how much thought goes into it for some people. I have a June baby so am considered a bit of a failure (and am ttc number 2, which if it catches this cycle, will be an August baby, shock horror!).

Sense the tone Blueskies, sense the tone

My August baby happened because we were at Whitby goth weekend around Halloween time, I drank too much and had spewed my pill up!

I'd rather have a September-oldest-in-their-year baby than August...but we've been TTC for ages so I'm not about to skip a month.

Beware anyone"timing" their baby for September, I was meant to be a September baby, I was born 3 weeks early so was always the youngest - but didn't do me any harm

I have a September baby. Didn't plan it that way as we tried for a few months. But the maternity ward was notably busier than when I'd had her brother in April of a previous year

My August baby had always been ahead of all her milestones and is in the top group of her class. I don’t think it makes too much of a difference.

Sorry threekiltsandacardy so many people point out there are MN ers in Scotland but non UK MN ers are generally ignored totally. Just come off another thread with 80% of posters totally blanking points made about the relevance of the OP being overseas, despite it being pointed out clearly in her first post! Made me cross

Not everyone has a choice.

We would be happy for a baby born any day of the year, but we haven't been so lucky...

If and when we are able to conceive we will be so overjoyed to finally be pregnant that I can't imagine we will care when the due date is.

September is 3 months before Christmas...
I think it has far less to do with school years than it has to do with cold dark nights, time off work, and an abundance of Christm as spirit.

My August born baby would have had a much easier time starting school if he’d hung on a more few weeks in the womb until September.
So I can see why people would be tempted to “time” babies for September.

But then there’s no guarantees that’ll work out.... my August baby was also a premature baby and would have been a September / October baby if born at term.
We weren’t planning his conception around desired birth months, but if we were, that would have caught us out.

I wish I had the luxury of being able to time a pregnancy, we tried for 2 years for this one and I couldn’t have given a shiny shite what time of the year my baby is born.
As it happens, ds1 is a summer born, and ds2 is due any day now.
My first thought though was I’d have to pay for an extra year of nursery for this one, which is a bit of a pain in the arse.
Summer born ds1 has just started reception and is doing exceptionally well academically so far (despite barely being able to hold a pencil prior to September)

My eldest is September born and he was conceived around the time of my partner’s Christmas work do. I imagine Christmas spirit, drinking, parties and cold nights are the reason September is a popular month for babies rather than loads specifically planning for September babies.

He has just started school and he was very ready, confident and independent by the time he started and did not struggle as much as some of the youngest ones but I do think they all quickly catch up. My second is a March baby so I will be interested to see if there is a difference.

Quite a few people I know have attempted to time the arrival of their baby, particularly teachers. I know others who wanted to avoid being pregnant over the summer so timed conceiving around that.

We could have started trying to conceive a few months earlier, but held off because of the research showing the advantages of being an autumn/winter-born child over being a summer-born child. Of course there will be plenty of summer-born children who do great, but we felt we could hold off for a few months in case it would be helpful to the child. That being said, if it had taken longer to conceive, we would have been delighted with a summer-born baby!

I don’t know how to do links, but here’s some interesting data on how Oxbridge students are far less likely to be summer born: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21579484

And a BBC series on the advantages of being born in September: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0938k8v

How many people conceive on month 1 of trying? Not to mention that many (most?) pregnancies aren't really planned

I know lots of teachers who have timed their pregnancies so that they can go on maternity leave at the end of July, (so September/August babies)

The September birth does make a big difference- my ds is September birthday, all his pals who are just weeks older than him are already at nursery, he’s not until January- and they will all go to school a whole year before him. That makes a tremendous difference at that age.

Also according to Dh, you’re more likely to be a premiership footballer if you’re born in sept-Dec

I hoped DC2 would be born in September so I could get a whole school year off with DS1, on mat leave. As it happens, he was born in September, just a year later than I'd originally hoped

Not all of UK follows the English system for schools.
In Scotland I believe the oldest in the year group is March.

Sorry should have added i think that shows its xmas/new year conception not for school as i was told from a midwife who works in Scotland that September is busiest time there too.

If you’ve been TTC for a while, you’ll take any birthday you can get but I do think there tend to be more ‘happy accidnets’ around the festive period which bumps up the September birthdays. And then of course there are those who start TTC in the new year and get lucky in their first cycle.

DS was a (December) Caribbean holiday surprise and due at the end of August. I was thrilled once we’d gone a few days over EDD and made it into September though!

I was due late October but ended up arriving 8 weeks early and being born at the very end of August. I loved leaving school at 15 and not having to wait that extra year!

How many people conceive on month 1 of trying? Not to mention that many (most?) pregnancies aren't really planned

About 20% - it's not the most common thing, but it's really not vanishingly rare. And apparently just over half of all pregnancies are planned (including the 'ambivalent' ones as unplanned), so if you put those together about 10% of pregnancies are planned and conceived in the first month, which is actually quite a lot.

Figures on planned/unplanned pregnancies from here: wellcome.ac.uk/press-release/one-six-pregnancies-among-women-britain-are-unplanned

Also, for those lucky enough to get bonuses in April, a September due date means higher maternity pay!

Don’t worry blueskies I feel your pain 😂
I rarely comment (but inwardly sigh) so don’t know what came over me tonight!