Predicting with certainty when will be the day and time when a baby will be born is unlikely. Although we may have wishes that it is born at a certain date or time of the day, it is the baby who chooses when to be born. But is there a time that you have a preference for?
A recent study found that most babies are born at night, and that the peak time of birth is at 4:00 a.m. We tell you the results of the study and the possible reasons why this happens.
Babies prefer to be born at night
Some time ago we shared with you the results of a study that was carried out analyzing the records of more than 4,500 births that occurred in the Maternity Home in Madrid between 1887 and 1892. Although they are very old, these data are of particular importance They are from a time when surgical interventions, such as caesarean sections, were minimal.
From this study it was found that babies preferred to be born at night and this is believed to be due to both evolutionary and biological reasons, similar to the study that we will now share.
The peak hour of birth, 4:00 AM
This new study published in the journal Plos One, reviewed the records of more than five million births in England, from 2005 to 2014.
Different regression models and descriptive statistics were established to establish how the patterns of the time of birth vary according to the type of delivery and gestational age, among other factors.
They found that the time of birth and the day of the week that this occurred varied considerably. In the case of the births that were triggered spontaneously, these mostly occurred between midnight and six in the morning, peaking at 4:00 in the morning , in addition to being more likely to occur during the week and not so much on weekends or holidays.
On the other hand, most caesarean sections occurred on workday mornings , while the deliveries that were induced regularly occurred around midnight between Thursdays and Saturdays, as well as in the days leading up to a holiday.
The result of the caesarean sections does not surprise us, since we had previously talked about how more and more deliveries were induced and more caesarean sections were scheduled to prevent them from falling on the weekend.
But what about the natural or spontaneous birth schedules? As we mentioned in the study in which it was said that babies had a preference for being born at night, this may be due to evolutionary and biological reasons .
On the evolutionary side, it may be a question of safety and survival , since our ancestors used to meet at nightfall after returning from a day out hunting, so the pregnant woman was now surrounded by others who could protect her. her and the baby from potential predators.
Another factor that would influence the fact that births occur at night is due to the influence of light -or the absence of it- and that, like the body, labor is governed by the circadian rhythm. In addition, melatonin, a hormone that is produced in the absence of light, helps to activate other hormones that are responsible for triggering labor.
All these reasons could explain why most babies choose to be born at night and perhaps help us to be better prepared in case it is triggered when the sun goes down.
Photo | iStock
Via | The confidential
In Babies and more | Babies prefer to be born at night. Peak hourly birth: why are most babies born around 8:00 AM? Cesarean sections increase between 11:00 PM. and 4 in the morning (and it could be because of the fatigue of the doctors)
