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Subscribe to RSSFewer women give birth on Halloween than on Valentine's Day, finds a new study. But this may not be a mere calendar coincidence. Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health suggest that pregnant women appear to be swayed by the cultural symbolism of the two holidays -- skeletons versus cherubs -- and this might influence their baby's arrival date.
They speculate that mothers-to-be may avoid delivering on the October holiday associated with death and witches. But scientists suspect that women have a more favorable view of Valentine's day, which is linked with love and romance, and may try for a Feb. 14 delivery.
Researchers raise the possibility that pregnant women may have some control over the timing of childbirth. Their findings suggest that a spontaneous birth (giving birth naturally) may be less spontaneous than doctors previously thought.
"The positive connotations of Valentine's Day may increase a pregnant woman's will to initiate birth and the negative connotations of Halloween may precipitate her will to resist giving birth," write the researchers. In other words, maybe a woman's mind is consciously or unconsciously influencing her hormonal mechanisms, and telling her body to speed up or slow down her baby's birth.
In the study, published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, researchers reviewed more than three million U.S. birth records. They looked at the number of babies born in the two-week period surrounding Halloween and Valentine's Day between 1996 and 2006, and considered the mother's delivery method.
Researchers selected cultural holidays with widespread participation, like Halloween and Valentine's Day, because unlike religious or national holidays, these would not affect hospital staffing rates. They found that births -- both scheduled and unscheduled -- increased on the holiday associated with hearts and flowers but dropped on trick-or-treat.
On Valentine's Day, they observed a 3.4 percent increase in induced births, a 3.6 percent lift in spontaneous births, and a 12.1 rise in cesarean deliveries compared to the seven days before and after the heart-themed holiday.
And there was a noticeable decline on Halloween. There was an 18.7 percent drop in induced births, a 16.9 percent dip in cesarean deliveries, and a 5.3 percent fall in spontaneous births compared to the other days in this two-week timeframe.
During this 11-year period, a woman's odds of giving birth on Valentine's Day went up by 5 percent overall, but it went down by 11.3 percent on Halloween. Although researchers admit they don't know the exact mechanisms behind this birth-timing pattern, they suspect that psychological factors and cultural beliefs can impact when women go into labor.
Of course, birth records don't reveal what may have been going on in couples' minds or lives nine months earlier.
Halloween and Valentine's babies, let's hear from you. Is it fun to share your birthday with pumpkins and costumes or hearts and romance? Others who have holiday birthdays feel free to add your comments.
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- Cravings for baby powder, and more tales of pica
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
How dumb; 31 OCT is just another day.
Exactly!
Some people are so gullible and impressionable!
Any woman who messes with mother nature for such a frivolous reason isn't fit to be a parent!
Tina, it isn't necessarily a conscious thing. Certainly, choosing not to induce or not scheduling a planned Caesarean on Halloween would be a matter of choice; but as far as "spontaneous" births, the mother-to-be might be subconsciously "holding off". Personally, I wouldn't care what day of the year my child was born on, as long as he/she was healthy - but superstition has a major subconscious effect on many people.
I'm a Halloween Baby and love sharing my birthday with witches and goblins. Autumn is my favorite time of year so it's a double bonus to celebrate my birthday on October 31st. Growing up I thought Trick or Treat Night was all about me and having a combined Birthday/Halloween party was all the more fun. Glad my mother let nature take it's course and had me on such a special day!
Happy Birthday!!!! My cousins was born on Halloween also.
LOVE my Halloween birthday too! Always fun!!!!
Happy birthday, Halloween babies! :D
My birthday is Halloween also. Happy Birthday to all of my fellow Witches & Goblins!!!
I had my youngest on Halloween. While still pregnant, my co-workers teased me that I was having a Halloween baby, & I insisted I would have her on All Saints' Day. Well...they were right, and I can tell you that no amount of willing it away & hoping I could wait one more day was going to stop my labor. It was pretty fast, & she was born at 1:23 am on 10/31.
When she was a child & we would be out shopping in early fall she would say, "Look, mommy, they've already started decorating for my birthday!" :)
I'm a Halloween baby too! I don't see what is so whatever about the day. I personally love Halloween and love sharing my birthday with my twin brother! We are our mom's witch and warlock and it's amazing to dress up on your birthday and pretend to be something cute or scary! It is just another day of the year. Anyway! Happy Birthday to all the other Halloween babies! Never knew so many! <3
Happy birthday y'all! My mom's a Halloween baby too. I was almost a birthday present, missed it by five days.
I used to have a client with Valentines Day as a birthday...she was not happily single...and had to share her birthday with all the couples she was NOT one of...double depressing...hard to celebrate...I'd much rather have a birthday bash on Halloween than Valentines days...especially if I was NOT part of a happy couple.
IT is silly to try to mess with the natural process for any reason.
I totally agree my middle daughter will be turning 19 years old with all those wiches and goblins and she loves her birthday being on Halloween. Ironically I am a big lover of Halloween so I was happy to have been giving birth on that day (honestly I was just happy to be giving birth finally 2 weeks late ha ha ha). I do wish I would have named her Elvira though, but she was glad I chose Jessica.
Happy Birthday Jessica-I love you!!!
My Grandmother was born on Halloween. My Father was born on Valentine's Day. I was due right around Valentine's Day with both my children and I tried so hard to have those babies on Valentine's Day. But I got the 19th and the 15th (at 3 A.M., so close). My Sister had to be induced on Leap Day and hated it at first, but it is fun to have a quirky birthday. Christmas, however, I don't think would be fun. I figured on Valentine's Day you'd always have a reason to celebrate, even if you're single. Maybe the 3rd time will be the charm if I'm ever allowed to have another.
Christmas as a birthday is a drag too hard to have a party.
My dad lived to be 76, and he absolutely hated his Dec. 29th birthday (he was about six weeks premature, as near as we can figure, he was lucky to survive). Can you imagine as a kid getting Christmas cards and Christmas presents that all read "Merry Christmas and have a Happy Birthday, too!". No birthday cards, no birthday presents, no birthday wrapping paper or birthday parties. We tried to make it up to him by baking birthday treats that were NOT decorated in green and red, and we bought separate birthday gifts and cards, and made sure to use birthday gift wrap, but the damage was done during his Depression-era childhood. I'm sure people are more sensitive about Christmas birthdays than in the past--if not, they should be!
It's those Leap Year Day babies that are always bragging about how young they are that get to me!
My birthday is Dec 29th. Not only is it so close to Christmas but my great grandma (who is turning 100 this year!) has a Dec 22nd birthday, my grandma has a Dec 27th birthday, mine is the 29th and my mothers is Dec 31st. 4 generations within a few days of eachother. So needless to say its always a christmas party with a birthday cake lol.
I was due on Halloween and had to have a C section due to the baby being breach. The hospital would NOT schedule the procedure for the 31st. I wanted to have my child on that day in the worst way and now she has an earlier birthday. If I had it to do all over again I would have insisted on the 31st unless there were complications. The hospital had a policy that they did no scheduled surgeries especially C sections on that day due to religious beliefs. GRRR
My Grandfather was born on Halloween. My son was born on Friday the 13th and yes his name is Jason. I have 2 Granddaughters one was born Dec.22 and the other waas born on Dec.26.
My sister was born on Halloween. She turned out alright.
my birthday is on feb 14 and it sux especially when ur single !
i understand how u feel then ,
every year people asks if i like someone or am i going out w/ anyone yet.........
just because my bday is feb 14 on the dot
My birthday is the day before Halloween and I always disliked it. No one remembers it because of Halloween or I had to have a party on Halloween to celebrate both.
If more people took a moment to truly understand what Wicca, paganism and Witchcraft is REALLY about (instead of buying wholesale into 600 year old propaganda), there would be no fear of October 31. This is just saddening.
I have very rare, monoamniotic (single-sac) twins that were to be delivered by 34 weeks, and that date happened to fall exactly on Halloween. I'm not just happy to have surviving, healthy twins, but to have them on such an awesome day...it's like everyone can celebrate with them.
On a similar note, I also have a son born on Christmas Eve, not because of some planned anything, but because he was due on Christmas and just came naturally.
Of course, each of these holidays were lonely for myself in the hospital (since my husband would be with our other children after the babies were born), and were special days I missed with my other kids, so there are some definite tradeoffs.
Oh, after seeing Gamma22's post...for my son's Christmas Eve birthday, he has never gotten a "one-for-two" present from us ever...in fact, Christmas Eve is celebrated just for his birthday, and it's almost maddeningly fun to watch all our other kids drool as he gets to open his stack of birthday presents, looking over at the stuff under the Christmas tree, knowing they don't get a thing until the next day...LOL! But really, to be fair to him, there's no other way to do it, and I think he enjoys teasing his siblings.
I agree with you as my youngest was born on Dec. 26. We don't take the tree down or anything, but we always have a birthday cake and birthday wrapped presents for her on that day. It has been somewhat difficult over the years to have a birthday party, but her best friend gets to come over every year. Her best friend's birthday is Valentine's day.
As a Halloween baby myself, I have had nothing but fun with my birthday my entire life. To me it is just another day and it is exactly what you make of it. I choose to laugh and enjoy it. Hope that when I pass it is also on Halloween. I think it would look fantastic on a tombstone! (Halloween humor there)
My brother's birthday is at the beginning of December, and believe me, he got the short end of the stick when it came to presents. Most of the relatives had no problem giving gifts to me and my little sister (born in September and April, respectively) and a separate present for Christmas, but with my brother he'd be handed a present and told "This is for your birthday AND Christmas!" Totally blows, IMO.
My father is a Halloween baby and he's a cool dude....not the least bit evil! lol
My twin sons were born on Mother's Day and that just happened naturally.
Just be happy your baby or babies are born healthy.
My first gran baby was due and actually born on October 31st. The little boy next door send to me after she was born "WOW she is gonna have awesome birthday parties" and he was right. We will be having her 5Th one tomorrow and he was right we sure do have awesome birthday parties and then go out trick or treating. I don't know why anyone wouldn't what this to be there birthday I feel bad for anyone Born on Christmas they seem to always get short changed. When i was growing up I had a girlfriend who's mother only celebrated her half birthday on June 25Th which we all thought was just great. Well Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Lilly I know we are going to have a great day and many more.
Stupid story. People can be morons about superstitions.
Everyone ought to be spooked by it, considering that on Oct 31 this year, the world reaches 7 BILLION!
World population to reach 7 BILLION!. Scary.
i loved my Halloween birthday as a kid because i got candy and then opened presents when i got home.Better still, i have a twin sister, so it doubled the fun. In college, i went to alot of parties dressed up and people thought it was cool to have a birthday on Oct 31st.
Funny thing is, both my sister and i have become atheists as a result of our life paths and convictions.
C'est la vie.
Im a Halloween Baby and love it!!! Fall is my favorite time of year of course. My bro and sis were slightly jealous of the fact that everyone seemed to remember my birthday! That has always been great! Im not superstitious. Halloween is just another commercialized holiday but lucky for me its one that everyone remembers!!!
Im happy my mother decided to not try to plan around the 31st of October just because of some weird superstition!
Not Halloween, but November 1st is close enough...and given that I was most likely conceived on Valentines Day, wouldn't that count as both?
That's All Saints Day, and I think that is a very good birthday! That's my brother's birthday, too. Happy Birthday to you and everybody else here that is celebrating or soon to be celebrating a birthday!
I was just thinking that, if you do the math, if you have a baby born on Halloween, good chance is that you were having a great Valentines Day!
My wife and her sister were born a year apart on Halloween. They are beautiful, intelligent, kind and generous women. If this is the result of being born on October 31, I highly recommend the practice!
Are all the mothers-to-be protestant women from the 1600s? Seriously...are people still that superstitious?