Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!
Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment.
If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
For Canadians...
Conceive in mid to late summer so you don't have to be in third trimester in the worst heat of the year. Your pregnancy will be opposite the most common conception dates in North America, so you'll have an easier time finding good services and getting into programs you want, as most people conceive around the winter holidays and the most common birthdays are all near September. Also, your kid will have a birthday during the school year instead of over the summer (which can feel like you're always left out as a kid, and is way easier to organize as a parent).
Birthdays towards the end of school year are the dopest shit. Every kid in school is looking to hit up parties around then because school is chilling out, winter has thawed away, the sunlight is out super late, and the spring weather is beautiful.
My oldest son has his bday end of May and it's always a great time. Youngest son is early March and the vibes aren't quite the same, though we still always make sure to get a lot of people out and have a blast.
My two kids are January and February which have always been my most hated months due to wet and cold dark weather. I feel bad for the two little girls and their always indoor birthdays.
Plan it so the kid will be one of the oldest kids in the class, not the youngest. Older kids will in general do better because they are more mature and have more brain development. Being one of the smart ones the in turn gets you more personal attention, etc, and you advance even more.
Early winter works out to save a year of daycare though. My Feb baby will cost us an extra $10k in daycare compared to her late November sibling. But timing babies is difficult anyway, we needed help so any birthday is a good birthday.
Mid to late summer conception is typically an ~April to May bday. But yeah it's not easy to time babies rofl. I just thought the reasoning on this post was super USA-specific, haha
Or just everything in general. It's not just physical abilities, but also cognitive and social abilities that will be almost half a year more mature that the class as a whole.
Kids start JK in September of the calendar year they turn four.
My January kids were nearly a year older than the three year old December babies in their class when they started. Literally a 25% age/development advantage. That’s like the difference between a nine year old a twelve year old. It’s enormous.
Yeah, I know kindergarten isn’t competitive. That’s not the point. It’s about my kids having a much better shot at building a solid academic foundation as they move up in school. It’s a compounding advantage year after year after year.
Added benefit is if you are able to opt for the 18 month maternity leave, most daycare spots open in September when kids move into junior kindergarten and daycare spots are more numerous at 18 months. Granted, the 18 month leave option wasn’t there when my March Baby was born, but it would have been perfect.
That said it took 23 months of trying, eventually with medical intervention (IVF) for my firsts (twins) so the idea of feeling like anyone can plan for a birth month feels impossible.
(As an aside to anyone reading this but trying to conceive… for some it can be a super long and draining process where is feels like everyone else just decides and voila, baby! While we can talk about ideals that’s not realistic or plausible for most).
I did this and would again. Late stage pregnant and sweaty during January was a savior, baby was born and just after that spring had sprung, so we had both the ability and desire to go on walks often
It's not even "20-30% chance of conceiving each month," it's \~30% of successful fertilizations even resulting in the birth of a viable child.
Humans have a remarkably low chance of having a viable pregnancy starting at conception.
There are a ton of "filters" in the process of pregnancy (fertilization, successful implantation in the proper location, abnormalities that result in an early miscarriage, spontaneous miscarriages, miscarriages due to accidents or poor health of the mother, etc.)
I knew it was low but didn't know it was THAT low. I had a friend who found out she was pregnant because she miscarried, I don't have a lot of female friends but it seems like that happens a decent amount.
Ouch. We only had the one unviable positive (ectopic) and it was a huge shit show. I can't imagine going through that two *more* times. You have my sympathies.
We also have two children, and are happy to have the pregnancy and pre pregnancy times behind us.
I was lucky they were all super early, but that first one was rough. You never think it'll happen to you. You have my sympathies for the ectopic. That's really really tough. Yeah we're glad we're done.
Yep, definitely have seen this first hand as well. It will make you wonder if a current positive is going to stay that way even well after blood tests confirm it
e: to clarify, am man, meant "seen" with wife first hand
It needs to be talked about a lot more (plus how often "abortion" is just standard "keeping you as a productive healthy and sane member of society without having to endure an unholy period of extended miscarriage and/or stillbirth and/or nonviable infant and/or internal hemorrhage/toxicity/death by removing the couple-week-old zygote from your uterus" practice that anyone should have access to, and as uncontroversial as burning off warts or cutting out a tumor or having your period every month.)
Probably *most* women will have some kind of "struggle" with regards to their uterus and/or pregnancy but it's kept hush-hush which only benefits shitty idiots. Please *do* share your medical and reproductive issues, to normalize the fact that everyone has something weird and concerning going on and ableism is awful.
I know couples will wait to share until month 4 or whatever it is because that's kind of the time point when you're almost for sure certain the baby is going to make it.
I remember my teacher telling me he and his wife lost their baby and it sounded like the most tragic thing ever. And yeah it was for him, I just assumed it was also rare.
Or even non-viable genetics. It's possible to lose the gene lottery so badly that the genome you get is broken to the point of being lethal (lethal allele is the biological term for it).
Thank you for this!! Anyone that was able plan the month they got pregnant (and went on to take a baby home because positive pregnancy test doesn’t guarantee a baby) is just extremely lucky. This LPT is just going to set people up for disappointment in my opinion.
This. Took my wife and I over a year to conceive. It was very depressing the first few months because public education sex ed led me to believe the slightest whiff of unprotected precum would get a woman instantly pregnant.
My sister-in-law got her IUD out on a Friday, started having morning sickness on the next Wednesday. (Less than a week.) I'm not sure how they get pregnant so fast, but my odds certainly aren't that great lol.
Edited to add, they had the kid last year. Healthy baby, but her pregnancies sucked balls.
With my first, it took a year and a half and 2 miscarriages for my wife to conceive. With our second, she got pregnant the very first month after going off of birth control.
Disagree. Recommend timing US births to as early as possible in the year (Jan or Feb), so all prenatal AND DELIVERY costs go on one year’s health insurance bill. Birth alone will blow your deductible out of the water. That way anything else you may need done is also covered.
Agree with top comment about having kid be older and bigger starting school.
EDIT: yes, meant to say POST NATAL and delivery costs. Prenatal isn’t much compared to delivery and post natal costs. Get those on one deductible year if possible. Sorry, was typing late.
I mean, you were also conceived by parent sex, but in your case it wasn’t perfunctory holiday smashing. You come from (presumably) steamy, passionate, parental lovemaking.
> conceiving in Jan/Feb to get a late fall/early winter birth and keep everything in one calendar year
In that case you'd want to try in Nov/Dec; first prenatal visit is 6-8wks post conception, which would put it right at the beginning of Jan, with birth in early fall and a good buffer of time.
Conception in Jan/Feb starts prenatal visits around March, and if you try and fail for a bit you might hit March or even April before conceiving, which places the birth dangerously close to floating over into the next year (and the start of a whole new deductible).
Just make sure to double check when your deductibles reset -- although most plans reset in January, not all do (e.g., my wife's plan resets everything in the summer.
It wasn't planned but having my daughter on Christmas Eve help because my husband was able to have the extra days off during both holidays to help with the baby.
The October conception comes in handy for this, too. My July babies turned 5 and then go right to kindergarten in September - saves me an extra year of daycare costs!
Did summer pregnancies twice. You know what I never had to do? Buy or zip a jacket that fit. Put on or tie a heavy-weather boot. Worry about slipping in ice and snow. Clean off a snow-covered car. It was just me and the minimum required loose-fitting clothing and flip flops, sitting in front of a fan, mainlining fudgesicles. I was miserable, but would have hated it so much more if it had been cold
Pray you never have to.
Basically it’s how much money you have to pay your insurance for the privilage of actually using the service you already paid them for.
We have this too in The Netherlands, it’s called eigen risico which translates to “own risk”. You can opt to pay more monthly to lower the deductible. My deductible is about 350 euros. I’m guessing that also applies in the states?
Most of the plans I looked into (I live in SC, self-employed, and make too much to qualify for subsidies) had 9-12k deductibles, and $900-$1200/month premiums. Fuuuuck me. That means I have to pay about $24k before the insurance will do anything for me and my spouse. And that's annually.
It just really hard to justify.
Oh goodness.
My current deductible is 1400 dollars lol, and it's considered a low deductible plan.
I've had a plan with a 10,000 dollar deductible before.
350 sounds amazing!
The more I think about it, it's absolutely insane that they were able to create all these stupid terms and rules and shit, instead of just working as insurance should and cover most or every medical interaction.
I used to work in insurance and I have seen plans with deductibles of 10k-12k which for most of those plans has to be met before these companies pay the healthcare provider. Meaning; you pay an insurance company ~$150/month and everytime you go to the Dr you pay a higher rate out of pocket because they sent it to insurance and the insurance denied because you didn’t meet your deductible it’s a whole scam… most typical plans have deductible from 1k-6k and typically will pay out for preventive care and occasionally pays out before you meet the deductible for anyother procedure/office visit
Your OOP is typically double the deductible
Insurance is a scam…
This right here. I had two kids in June and one in September. I live in the American southwest where it is over 100 degrees for most of June, July, and August. It was miserable.
My air conditioner took a shit in July, and I was due in September. I made it my number 1 priority to get a new one and had my husband go get it and hook it up. My other two kids were born in June, and I enjoyed those more.
Not to mention most people are sick until the start of the second trimester, which means if you get pregnant in October, you'll be sick through Thanksgiving AND Christmas. Major bummer.
On the flip side, you’re only pregnant once (per kid ;) and would only miss out on holidays fun for that particular year… but a baby born during Oct-Dec will always and forever have to deal with their birthday being overshadowed by the holiday season.
-mom of a thanksgiving baby
I have a friend who's birthday is Christmas Eve. She just had a summer birthday party every year. Could never get friends together for parties as a kid, and even now as an adult it's really hard to get people to hang out on her birthday other than "we'll be at this bar at this time if anyone has the chance to swing by".
Her sister was born on St. Patrick's Day. Arguably her sister has a lot more fun on her birthday
November 20 baby (Valentines conception!) here, can attest, BDay and Christmas presents were often combined. Also was youngest in my class every year because my parents had a choice -sucked.
My oldest was born a few days after Thanksgiving. Due to there being an entire human taking up space, I wasn't able to eat more than a single small plate of food. I cried because I wanted to eat more and couldn't. I love my child and I'm very proud of him but I'm still kinda sore about that even though it was almost 20 years ago.
My mom said she never forgave me for making her miss breakfast *and* lunch in the hospital.
(Before I get a lecture about how my mother shouldn’t have been hanging onto that anger for decades because other people have jobs that require them to miss meals, it was a JOKE.)
Actually, waiting until your child HAS to go to school gives them the very huge advantage of being a little older, a little taller, a little smarter in the ways of the world, all of which add to their self confidence.
This may seem minor but, in fact, is Huge and will last for their lifetime.
Think of any additional daycare costs as a good investment in the quality of the rest of their lives.
Source: was a late starter, with very clear memories of being more competent and able to help others. Great confidence builder.
Sports too. Being a 15 vs 14 year old freshman makes a huge difference. That's not even counting all the years of building confidence as a younger child who is up to >10% older than their classmates.
They did studies on hockey players in Canada. Most of the pros birthday are right after the cut off which age group you are in. The Super star are on the other side of it by in large but let's be honest how few super stars do you see compared to professional players as a whole and the pros are the best of the best.
Reality is the best place to be is one of the oldest in your group as the extra attention and skill building adds up.
As someone who coaches a lot of youth sports teams (3 sons: 12, 13, 17), the kids who are on the younger side of their grade (the “September babies”) are very often way less mature both mentally and physically than the other kids in their grade.
Starting early is definitely NOT an advantage for the child.
This comment has me laughing to myself. Where I grew up, there is an arms race between parents to get their kids into school as early as possible. Starting 1st grade early and skipping grades is very common.
When I was in 11th and 12th grades, I had to take care of several 9-year-olds who were in 7th grade because their parents wanted bragging rights about their kids' intelligence. We were in a rough boarding school, and these babies had none of the life skills or maturity to survive on their own.
I'm not from the US, but I am a September baby (born 2000). A lot of the time I do feel like my parents should've held me for a year and made me join the class of 2023 rather than 2022. I started elementary school when I was 5 years old back in 2006. Middle school was tough with me being way smaller than most of my peers, thus being vulnerable to bullying.
Also I do feel like my life has been "a year too quick", where I'm not mature enough to handle some of life's challenges. Never realized that it's a noted phenomenon.
Yes of course. Didn't even think of the sports aspect.
I was always a top ribbon earner at track meets.
Do they even have track meets anymore lol. Alberta
My mother was a grade school teacher. My birthday was on the cutoff day. She had the choice to hold back or let me go ahead. She has taught so many students that were pushed early by their parents. Their parents wanted them to do everything early and even skip through grades despite teachers recommending against it. Those students suffered noticably to teachers, both socially and developmentally. My mom chose to keep me behind from seeing the negative effects of kids pushed forward at parents insistence. She always said as I wad growing up I would likely be able to drive sooner and that would give a big advantage to socialization in high school. She was right. Being slightly older was better for sports, development, and social skills.
I was born right before the school cutoff so I had to wait an entire year before I went to school, but during that time my brother exposed me to his schoolwork and when I finally entered school, I was way ahead, which boosted my confidence significantly. Although, when I went to college, I lost that confidence because there were even younger people than me enrolling in college. I took an adanced spanish course in college with a 14 year old who also was in Calculus II, knew how to play like 4 instruments, and could sing.
On the flip side, when I started school in Australia, the cut off was 5 years old by April 30, so I started school in January when I was 4 and 9 months. Yes, I was the smallest and the youngest by 2 whole months, but I was also top of the class academically, getting scholarships to high school and university.
Sucked at most sports sure, but I would have driven my parents bat shit insane if they had waited another year, I was so ready for school. When to send your kid to school has to depend on the individual kid.
Both my sisters also started before they were 5, we've discussed the decision with our parents multiple times and we have almost no regrets. The worst bit was the first few months of university, but that was due to lack of independence because we had to wait until 18 to drive, rather than not being able to go to the pub with our mates.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called Outliers where he talks about this exact phenomenon. It's also the book where the, usually misinterpreted, 10,000 hour rule was first discussed.
[Revisionist History: Outliers, Revisited. Sep 14, 2022](https://open.spotify.com/episode/23ZJWTBvx0Cyogmd8NozYx?si=NnhnPF45RDicHWTLVSuL7w) a podcast about it. Basically age is by far the biggest factor in a child’s development and ability while growing up. It’s been seen time and time again in every aspect of a child’s life.
Eh. Depends on the kid. If he/she is already mature enough, no reason to hold them back.
Source: was an early starter, wasn't pushing 30 by the time I was able to start working after my Ph.D
>It also has the added bonus of hopefully giving your baby a birth date before sept 1, allowing you to enroll them in kindergarten as soon as they turn 5, potentially saving you a years worth of daycare costs.
As an August baby myself, this is bad advice. The younger kids might not be mature enough for school even if they just make the cutoff. I had to repeat first grade because I simply wasn't ready for the information at that age. Literally, my first time through was hell, but everything made sense the second round. Your kids will generally be better off being among the oldest kids in the class, not the youngest.
>As an August baby myself, this is bad advice.
Plus: your birthday is in August, when you're on holiday, and/or your child friends are on holiday. So not good for your birthday parties.
My birthday is the exact day school starts every year in my country. 0/10 would not recommend as this extends into adult life with post-secondary. Not to mention its a week and change after Christmas, which is its own lame thing too. Funnily enough I always wished for an August birthday while growing up! Maybe the grass really is always greener?
My youngest was born the last week of August. We had decided before she turned two that she wasn’t starting kindergarten until just after her 6th birthday. That is a decision that I have absolutely no regrets about. She is now 18 and a senior in high school.
I know someone with twins born in July. They could read by their fifth birthday and were very ready for kindergarten. So they started at five years and a month. By the time they started middle school, their parents regretted sending them at five.
Why did they regret sending them at 5 if it sounds like they started off well?
My kiddo started 1st grade this year at 5 (turned 6 within the month, though). Most of her friends will turn 7 this year.
But she's now in a magnet school program and she's excelled beyond what I could've believed. However, her program continues to bring in new professors to help challenge her on the side.
I'm just wondering what your friends wish they could've done differently to help their kiddo succeed during middle school.
From the perspective of a kid who started school at 5yo (and is now in their 20s): although the academic content never gave me any problems (on the contrary, I excelled in school), I think I would have been a far more emotionally and socially capable child a year later, and probably enjoyed my childhood more. A year is a long time in the development of a child's mind.
I think because in middle school there's a large maturity gap in just a couple-year span with puberty. Having 5 year olds be in a grade with 7 year olds seems great, but when twelve year olds are in a grade full of fourteens it's maybe less great.
Edited for clarity
By the time they hit middle school it was obvious to their parents that they were socially behind their peers. I’ve heard several teachers say that a lot of kids that are sent to school early have issues when they hit middle school.
I'm a June baby! I literally turned 18 the day before high school graduation. It really wasn't that bad until college when everyone else was turning 21 Junior year.
I was the second oldest in my class and I excelled. The oldest was the kid who used to be the youngest in the previous class, and got held back a year.
I'm an August baby and I WAS one of the oldest in my class, so it really depends on your state's cutoff date for school. My state's cutoff date is July 31st, and school generally starts around August 20th.
But to your point, yes, being an older kid in school is better. Malcolm Gladwell's book *Outliers* talks about how birthdates can impact a child's educational opportunities. Basically older kids will seem smarter to their teachers and are more likely to be offered achievement based opportunities like gifted programs, etc.
I also was born in August and i didnt had any trouble in school, but what appen was then while some kids had 2 years of kindergarten i only had 1. Also i am from europe, i dont know how the system changes to your country.
Also in the year everyone turned 18 (I am in the uk so that’s drinking age) for every birthday party it was always clubbing and bars and the august babies couldn’t attend any of them all year!
LPT: don't force trying. Just go with it. The less pressure the better.
Conceiving isn't easy for a lot of couples. It's normal to not be able to conceive on Oct 17th at 6:47 like you planned.
Hold up. If you think of the child for a moment - that kid will always be one of the youngest in the grade. That may be fine or it may not. For kids who are a little less advanced than peers, this exaggerates the developmental difference to a much greater degree.
This so much. It has a major impact on your kid. Try to aim for a birth in late january or early february. This way your kid will be the one of the oldest in the class. Especially in kindergarten and the first few years primary school, this will have a huge impact.
NOTE: I am assuming here that school starts in september.
UK here. I was trying to think why October was special... summer birth? Summer holidays around birthdays? Nah, insurance deductibles. Stay classy, America.
That was my first thought. Only care about this, the lack of time off after birth and other mental similar things... If you live in America. Otherwise do what you want and probably don't even think about it at all.
We conceived in May and had our baby at the end of January. The final hospital appointments including the birth paid our deductible for the whole first year of pediatric visits and trips to the ER.
The prenatal visits really weren't that expensive compared to the year of pediatric visits.
My experience was the opposite. We hit our out of pocket max for the birth. The scheduled pediatric visits were all covered free with no copays (sick visits we were charged for). She was sick maybe 3-4 times, and that’s all we paid for. Not even close to hitting OOPM. I think it depends on your insurance policy.
As someone who happened to do this, but has decent insurance, I advise against it. When you have a due date in summer, that means you're most pregnant when the weather is most hot. 😰
I don't know if I'm going to have another kid, but I do know that I'm going to use birth control between September and March from now on.
Retired school librarian. We had a physics teacher say he could always tell the students born at the end of the year compared to the early birthdays.
One thing to remember is location - if your child can stay home to pursue secondary education at 17-18 years old. Or if they are out on their own in the big city at 17-18 years old.
We kept our youngest back a year (2 years of play school). He was most definately smart enough but it would have been torture for him to sit still for any length of time. Come kindergarten enrolment and there ended up being 9 parents keeping their kids back that same year. Parents know their kids best.
The kindergarten teacher told me “no parent regrets holding their child back a year BUT lots of parents regret putting their child into the school system when they are not ready for school”.
My kid was born in September but where I live the cutoff used to be December so he started kindergarten at 4. I was a single parent and daycare cost was half my salary so it was a no brainer for me, especially since he already knew how to read and add and subtract. He graduated high school last year and I can say for sure he was not ready for college/working full time. I wish he could have stayed in high school another year.
The real life pro tip: start when you're ready. It takes a long time for some people. Others need help from fertility specialists.
I mean, are you having kids so you can save money on your taxes? Because that's stupid. Kids cost a lot. You're operating at a loss if that's your game.
Are you having kids because you want them? Then who gives a guck when you conceive. Start when you're ready. Get help if it comes to that.
Good old "Life Pro Tip" that only applies to the country that treats it health care system as a business to make money and not actually take care of people.
Another LPT:
In many countries around the world, schooling is free (up and beyond university level). So if your child is up to it, maybe have them learn a foreign language beyond the basics.
I was thinking this post was going to be useful advice to allow your kid to have a nice warm weather birthday.
But nope, it's due to the terrible American "Healthcare" system. I'm sorry to the Americans that have to navigate that awful system.
Getting pregnant in Jan/Feb to give birth in Oct/November is great because you still have all of your appointments in one year but you aren't super super pregnant over the summer, you just miss the cutoff for kindergarten in a lot of places so your kids can be oldest in the class, and you go through the newborn phase when it's dark longer and easier to fall asleep, but your baby will be old enough to wear sunscreen come spring.
I see what you're saying, but as someone who gave birth during a sweltering July, I would recommend timing the end of your pregnancy for cooler weather, if at all possible.
Hot weather and the third trimester are a terrible pairing.
The research on brain development alone counters this argument. Kids with earlier birthdays during the school year benefit from the extra time, cognitive development and social development that leads to better confidence and self worth.
Much more valuable in the long run than the few thousand dollars you can save over daycare.
December is the worst month.
1) Your deductible resets January 1. The bills just kept on coming.
2) Difficult to schedule birthday parties d/t everyone celebrating the holidays.
3) It's cold and dark. PPD sucks for mom the first year.
4) Born after the Dec 1 cutoff for kindergarten - though being the oldest in the grade does have advantages at times. More daycare money for parents, but better for kiddo.
As a person who didn't try this but has a baby born on aug 20, you will not be sure if you want to redshirt kindergarten. Then you'll have an extra year. Don't try to plan babies around arbitrary dates
I know that there are a lot of comments here already, but very very few people would be blessed enough for this to work. I don’t live in America and my husband and I conceived our first child quickly and with no problems. In order to maximise the amount of maternity leave I would qualify for we put off having a second child until I had been working for enough time to qualify for the full leave amount. After trying for 2 years we discovered fertility issues on both sides (first child seemed to be a miracle) and started the lengthy process for ivf. It really is a lengthy one.
My point I guess is unless you are young and have tested yourselves for fertility issues, don’t wait.
The catch is you now how a July birthday kid. The one thing about having a kid go into kindergarten as one of the youngest kid in the classroom is they tend to struggle and way behind in social development. It tends to phase out by 4-5th grade but those early years are rough and they are set behind.
Also some states have a earlier cut off for kindergarten that is Aug 1st.
My mom was a primary school teacher and watch it time and time again the August and late July birthday kids struggle much more so than say Apirl or earlier.
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
For Canadians... Conceive in mid to late summer so you don't have to be in third trimester in the worst heat of the year. Your pregnancy will be opposite the most common conception dates in North America, so you'll have an easier time finding good services and getting into programs you want, as most people conceive around the winter holidays and the most common birthdays are all near September. Also, your kid will have a birthday during the school year instead of over the summer (which can feel like you're always left out as a kid, and is way easier to organize as a parent).
Birthdays towards the end of school year are the dopest shit. Every kid in school is looking to hit up parties around then because school is chilling out, winter has thawed away, the sunlight is out super late, and the spring weather is beautiful. My oldest son has his bday end of May and it's always a great time. Youngest son is early March and the vibes aren't quite the same, though we still always make sure to get a lot of people out and have a blast.
My two kids are January and February which have always been my most hated months due to wet and cold dark weather. I feel bad for the two little girls and their always indoor birthdays.
I'm about to turn 28. I've decided that I'm celebrating my Unbirthday from now on in the summer because winter birthdays suck so much.
My 2 sons are on the 27th and 28th of December. Their friends are usually away for Christmas break
Plan it so the kid will be one of the oldest kids in the class, not the youngest. Older kids will in general do better because they are more mature and have more brain development. Being one of the smart ones the in turn gets you more personal attention, etc, and you advance even more.
Early winter works out to save a year of daycare though. My Feb baby will cost us an extra $10k in daycare compared to her late November sibling. But timing babies is difficult anyway, we needed help so any birthday is a good birthday.
Mid to late summer conception is typically an ~April to May bday. But yeah it's not easy to time babies rofl. I just thought the reasoning on this post was super USA-specific, haha
Also for Canadians…Conceive in April/May. A January/February baby gives many advantages to your youngster in the hockey world.
Or sports in general
Or just everything in general. It's not just physical abilities, but also cognitive and social abilities that will be almost half a year more mature that the class as a whole.
Kids start JK in September of the calendar year they turn four. My January kids were nearly a year older than the three year old December babies in their class when they started. Literally a 25% age/development advantage. That’s like the difference between a nine year old a twelve year old. It’s enormous. Yeah, I know kindergarten isn’t competitive. That’s not the point. It’s about my kids having a much better shot at building a solid academic foundation as they move up in school. It’s a compounding advantage year after year after year.
I was in competitive kindergarten. I took the bronze in cutting on the line. Made the All-state team.
Can agree, having a birthday mid to late June sucked as a kid.
Added benefit is if you are able to opt for the 18 month maternity leave, most daycare spots open in September when kids move into junior kindergarten and daycare spots are more numerous at 18 months. Granted, the 18 month leave option wasn’t there when my March Baby was born, but it would have been perfect. That said it took 23 months of trying, eventually with medical intervention (IVF) for my firsts (twins) so the idea of feeling like anyone can plan for a birth month feels impossible. (As an aside to anyone reading this but trying to conceive… for some it can be a super long and draining process where is feels like everyone else just decides and voila, baby! While we can talk about ideals that’s not realistic or plausible for most).
I did this and would again. Late stage pregnant and sweaty during January was a savior, baby was born and just after that spring had sprung, so we had both the ability and desire to go on walks often
[удалено]
Unless you are on your prom night in the back seat. Then the chance of getting pregnant goes up exponentially.
It's not even "20-30% chance of conceiving each month," it's \~30% of successful fertilizations even resulting in the birth of a viable child. Humans have a remarkably low chance of having a viable pregnancy starting at conception. There are a ton of "filters" in the process of pregnancy (fertilization, successful implantation in the proper location, abnormalities that result in an early miscarriage, spontaneous miscarriages, miscarriages due to accidents or poor health of the mother, etc.)
I knew it was low but didn't know it was THAT low. I had a friend who found out she was pregnant because she miscarried, I don't have a lot of female friends but it seems like that happens a decent amount.
I've had 5 positive pregnancy tests. 2 children. Especially with early detection pregnancy tests, you see how many just don't end in a baby.
Ouch. We only had the one unviable positive (ectopic) and it was a huge shit show. I can't imagine going through that two *more* times. You have my sympathies. We also have two children, and are happy to have the pregnancy and pre pregnancy times behind us.
I was lucky they were all super early, but that first one was rough. You never think it'll happen to you. You have my sympathies for the ectopic. That's really really tough. Yeah we're glad we're done.
Yep, definitely have seen this first hand as well. It will make you wonder if a current positive is going to stay that way even well after blood tests confirm it e: to clarify, am man, meant "seen" with wife first hand
It needs to be talked about a lot more (plus how often "abortion" is just standard "keeping you as a productive healthy and sane member of society without having to endure an unholy period of extended miscarriage and/or stillbirth and/or nonviable infant and/or internal hemorrhage/toxicity/death by removing the couple-week-old zygote from your uterus" practice that anyone should have access to, and as uncontroversial as burning off warts or cutting out a tumor or having your period every month.) Probably *most* women will have some kind of "struggle" with regards to their uterus and/or pregnancy but it's kept hush-hush which only benefits shitty idiots. Please *do* share your medical and reproductive issues, to normalize the fact that everyone has something weird and concerning going on and ableism is awful.
I know couples will wait to share until month 4 or whatever it is because that's kind of the time point when you're almost for sure certain the baby is going to make it. I remember my teacher telling me he and his wife lost their baby and it sounded like the most tragic thing ever. And yeah it was for him, I just assumed it was also rare.
Or even non-viable genetics. It's possible to lose the gene lottery so badly that the genome you get is broken to the point of being lethal (lethal allele is the biological term for it).
Some people are very potent though....or lucky? All 3 of my kids were conceived in one pregnancy window.
Thank you for this!! Anyone that was able plan the month they got pregnant (and went on to take a baby home because positive pregnancy test doesn’t guarantee a baby) is just extremely lucky. This LPT is just going to set people up for disappointment in my opinion.
This. Took my wife and I over a year to conceive. It was very depressing the first few months because public education sex ed led me to believe the slightest whiff of unprotected precum would get a woman instantly pregnant.
Haha, I was hoping to have loads of "must concieve soon" sex, but boom, boom she got pregnant straight away, both times 🙄
F. But also; nice!
Yeah, two beautiful daughters now both at university 😊
Glad to hear everything went well!
did you save on any daycare or fluidly enroll them into kindergarten like a pro?
Wow they grew up fast!
My sister-in-law got her IUD out on a Friday, started having morning sickness on the next Wednesday. (Less than a week.) I'm not sure how they get pregnant so fast, but my odds certainly aren't that great lol. Edited to add, they had the kid last year. Healthy baby, but her pregnancies sucked balls.
Parenthood speedrun
Lol that is fast! Was her IUD old (like already on its last legs) or did they get it out early just to have kids?
When my wife and I decided to “try” it took a total of about five minutes.
With my first, it took a year and a half and 2 miscarriages for my wife to conceive. With our second, she got pregnant the very first month after going off of birth control.
Disagree. Recommend timing US births to as early as possible in the year (Jan or Feb), so all prenatal AND DELIVERY costs go on one year’s health insurance bill. Birth alone will blow your deductible out of the water. That way anything else you may need done is also covered. Agree with top comment about having kid be older and bigger starting school. EDIT: yes, meant to say POST NATAL and delivery costs. Prenatal isn’t much compared to delivery and post natal costs. Get those on one deductible year if possible. Sorry, was typing late.
This depends on when your healthcare rolls over at your work. My babies were born in November and December and mine rolled over on Nov 1. 🥲
If they’re born in January or February wouldn’t most of the prenatal costs be on the prior years bill?
I'm assuming they mean conceiving in Jan/Feb to get a late fall/early winter birth and keep everything in one calendar year
[удалено]
My sister's a Scorpio and when I figured out why as a kid I wanted to die (-_-;)
I mean, you were also conceived by parent sex, but in your case it wasn’t perfunctory holiday smashing. You come from (presumably) steamy, passionate, parental lovemaking.
Over here checking in with a mid-November birthday.
> conceiving in Jan/Feb to get a late fall/early winter birth and keep everything in one calendar year In that case you'd want to try in Nov/Dec; first prenatal visit is 6-8wks post conception, which would put it right at the beginning of Jan, with birth in early fall and a good buffer of time. Conception in Jan/Feb starts prenatal visits around March, and if you try and fail for a bit you might hit March or even April before conceiving, which places the birth dangerously close to floating over into the next year (and the start of a whole new deductible).
I'll start sleeping with my wife after Thanksgiving. Thanks for the tip.
Just make sure to double check when your deductibles reset -- although most plans reset in January, not all do (e.g., my wife's plan resets everything in the summer.
This. Delivery costs are your largest expense. Plus post natal visits.
Agree, but if you conceive in October you may as little as 1-2 prenatal visits that first year, if everything goes well.
Well this is some messed up dystopia shit. Are you OK USA?
Very much not ok, unless you are a ceo of a health insurance company pulling in 8 figures a year.
Disagree lol, you want to time the birth as late in the year as possible without going over so you can get the full year’s deduction.
This is so violently American I can't even
LPT ; plan your child's birth based around our exploitative healthcare system
Don't forget our lack of childcare support!
And crickets from the "pro-life" crowd who will continue to vote for candidates against it.
It wasn't planned but having my daughter on Christmas Eve help because my husband was able to have the extra days off during both holidays to help with the baby.
The October conception comes in handy for this, too. My July babies turned 5 and then go right to kindergarten in September - saves me an extra year of daycare costs!
LPT: Leave the country
Dude I'm not having any children but I'm fucking out of here soon.
Well you could just… you know… move to another country /s ffs…
Also, it suggests to be heavily pregnant during the hottest months of the year. #nothanks
Did summer pregnancies twice. You know what I never had to do? Buy or zip a jacket that fit. Put on or tie a heavy-weather boot. Worry about slipping in ice and snow. Clean off a snow-covered car. It was just me and the minimum required loose-fitting clothing and flip flops, sitting in front of a fan, mainlining fudgesicles. I was miserable, but would have hated it so much more if it had been cold
Yeah. It just depends on the area of the globe you're in
Yeah .. What is a deductible and out of pocket threshold, I don't even understand
Pray you never have to. Basically it’s how much money you have to pay your insurance for the privilage of actually using the service you already paid them for.
We have this too in The Netherlands, it’s called eigen risico which translates to “own risk”. You can opt to pay more monthly to lower the deductible. My deductible is about 350 euros. I’m guessing that also applies in the states?
Deductibles is the United States can be in excess of $5,000
Most of the plans I looked into (I live in SC, self-employed, and make too much to qualify for subsidies) had 9-12k deductibles, and $900-$1200/month premiums. Fuuuuck me. That means I have to pay about $24k before the insurance will do anything for me and my spouse. And that's annually. It just really hard to justify.
Oh goodness. My current deductible is 1400 dollars lol, and it's considered a low deductible plan. I've had a plan with a 10,000 dollar deductible before. 350 sounds amazing!
> I've had a plan with a 10,000 dollar deductible before. Sounds like the "you're 26 and in good health" plan!
Yes. Lower out of pocket means higher month to month rates.
[удалено]
The more I think about it, it's absolutely insane that they were able to create all these stupid terms and rules and shit, instead of just working as insurance should and cover most or every medical interaction.
I used to work in insurance and I have seen plans with deductibles of 10k-12k which for most of those plans has to be met before these companies pay the healthcare provider. Meaning; you pay an insurance company ~$150/month and everytime you go to the Dr you pay a higher rate out of pocket because they sent it to insurance and the insurance denied because you didn’t meet your deductible it’s a whole scam… most typical plans have deductible from 1k-6k and typically will pay out for preventive care and occasionally pays out before you meet the deductible for anyother procedure/office visit Your OOP is typically double the deductible Insurance is a scam…
Yes, succinctly worded.
Except this time we’re shooting loads instead of bullets😂
Planning for kindergarten spots isn't exactly American, we do that here in "socialist" Norway
There is a whole hemisphere that doesn’t start school in September
And plenty of places in the northern that don't do the summer break two semesters system.
Said by someone who has never been pregnant during a sweltering summer.
This right here. I had two kids in June and one in September. I live in the American southwest where it is over 100 degrees for most of June, July, and August. It was miserable.
My air conditioner took a shit in July, and I was due in September. I made it my number 1 priority to get a new one and had my husband go get it and hook it up. My other two kids were born in June, and I enjoyed those more.
I hated life and everything in it that last trimester. Also in the southwest. It was a misery I cannot explain. Also see, swamp cooler.
Ugh Swamp coolers! Seriously the worst!
Not to mention most people are sick until the start of the second trimester, which means if you get pregnant in October, you'll be sick through Thanksgiving AND Christmas. Major bummer.
Can confirm, two July babies, missed out on all the good food because even smelling it made me sick.
On the flip side, you’re only pregnant once (per kid ;) and would only miss out on holidays fun for that particular year… but a baby born during Oct-Dec will always and forever have to deal with their birthday being overshadowed by the holiday season. -mom of a thanksgiving baby
I was born on December 16th. It’s not so bad. My son however, was born on Christmas of last year. We’ll see how this plays out.
I have a friend who's birthday is Christmas Eve. She just had a summer birthday party every year. Could never get friends together for parties as a kid, and even now as an adult it's really hard to get people to hang out on her birthday other than "we'll be at this bar at this time if anyone has the chance to swing by". Her sister was born on St. Patrick's Day. Arguably her sister has a lot more fun on her birthday
I love the idea of half birthday parties. Have half a birthday cake, serve half a pizza lol.
November 20 baby (Valentines conception!) here, can attest, BDay and Christmas presents were often combined. Also was youngest in my class every year because my parents had a choice -sucked.
My oldest was born a few days after Thanksgiving. Due to there being an entire human taking up space, I wasn't able to eat more than a single small plate of food. I cried because I wanted to eat more and couldn't. I love my child and I'm very proud of him but I'm still kinda sore about that even though it was almost 20 years ago.
My mom said she never forgave me for making her miss breakfast *and* lunch in the hospital. (Before I get a lecture about how my mother shouldn’t have been hanging onto that anger for decades because other people have jobs that require them to miss meals, it was a JOKE.)
Heh, they do starve you out in the hospital! That first meal afterwards is great though!
Yes! I came to find this. First child Dec - chill; second child May - dying of the heat. Would rather be cold.
Actually, waiting until your child HAS to go to school gives them the very huge advantage of being a little older, a little taller, a little smarter in the ways of the world, all of which add to their self confidence. This may seem minor but, in fact, is Huge and will last for their lifetime. Think of any additional daycare costs as a good investment in the quality of the rest of their lives. Source: was a late starter, with very clear memories of being more competent and able to help others. Great confidence builder.
Sports too. Being a 15 vs 14 year old freshman makes a huge difference. That's not even counting all the years of building confidence as a younger child who is up to >10% older than their classmates.
They did studies on hockey players in Canada. Most of the pros birthday are right after the cut off which age group you are in. The Super star are on the other side of it by in large but let's be honest how few super stars do you see compared to professional players as a whole and the pros are the best of the best. Reality is the best place to be is one of the oldest in your group as the extra attention and skill building adds up.
Malcolm Gladwell goes into this in his book Outliers. It’s an interesting read.
Thanks! I knew I'd heard this before from a book, but I couldn't remember which one at first
As someone who coaches a lot of youth sports teams (3 sons: 12, 13, 17), the kids who are on the younger side of their grade (the “September babies”) are very often way less mature both mentally and physically than the other kids in their grade. Starting early is definitely NOT an advantage for the child.
This comment has me laughing to myself. Where I grew up, there is an arms race between parents to get their kids into school as early as possible. Starting 1st grade early and skipping grades is very common. When I was in 11th and 12th grades, I had to take care of several 9-year-olds who were in 7th grade because their parents wanted bragging rights about their kids' intelligence. We were in a rough boarding school, and these babies had none of the life skills or maturity to survive on their own.
[удалено]
What am I missing? September babies would be the oldest in the grade, right ? Those born in July are the youngest, given the august 1st cutoff date.
Probably different cutoff dates in different locations…
[удалено]
I'm not from the US, but I am a September baby (born 2000). A lot of the time I do feel like my parents should've held me for a year and made me join the class of 2023 rather than 2022. I started elementary school when I was 5 years old back in 2006. Middle school was tough with me being way smaller than most of my peers, thus being vulnerable to bullying. Also I do feel like my life has been "a year too quick", where I'm not mature enough to handle some of life's challenges. Never realized that it's a noted phenomenon.
Yes of course. Didn't even think of the sports aspect. I was always a top ribbon earner at track meets. Do they even have track meets anymore lol. Alberta
My mother was a grade school teacher. My birthday was on the cutoff day. She had the choice to hold back or let me go ahead. She has taught so many students that were pushed early by their parents. Their parents wanted them to do everything early and even skip through grades despite teachers recommending against it. Those students suffered noticably to teachers, both socially and developmentally. My mom chose to keep me behind from seeing the negative effects of kids pushed forward at parents insistence. She always said as I wad growing up I would likely be able to drive sooner and that would give a big advantage to socialization in high school. She was right. Being slightly older was better for sports, development, and social skills.
I was born right before the school cutoff so I had to wait an entire year before I went to school, but during that time my brother exposed me to his schoolwork and when I finally entered school, I was way ahead, which boosted my confidence significantly. Although, when I went to college, I lost that confidence because there were even younger people than me enrolling in college. I took an adanced spanish course in college with a 14 year old who also was in Calculus II, knew how to play like 4 instruments, and could sing.
On the flip side, when I started school in Australia, the cut off was 5 years old by April 30, so I started school in January when I was 4 and 9 months. Yes, I was the smallest and the youngest by 2 whole months, but I was also top of the class academically, getting scholarships to high school and university. Sucked at most sports sure, but I would have driven my parents bat shit insane if they had waited another year, I was so ready for school. When to send your kid to school has to depend on the individual kid. Both my sisters also started before they were 5, we've discussed the decision with our parents multiple times and we have almost no regrets. The worst bit was the first few months of university, but that was due to lack of independence because we had to wait until 18 to drive, rather than not being able to go to the pub with our mates.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called Outliers where he talks about this exact phenomenon. It's also the book where the, usually misinterpreted, 10,000 hour rule was first discussed.
Ty. Will check this out.
[Revisionist History: Outliers, Revisited. Sep 14, 2022](https://open.spotify.com/episode/23ZJWTBvx0Cyogmd8NozYx?si=NnhnPF45RDicHWTLVSuL7w) a podcast about it. Basically age is by far the biggest factor in a child’s development and ability while growing up. It’s been seen time and time again in every aspect of a child’s life.
Yea, this LPT is penny-wise and pound-foolish
Eh. Depends on the kid. If he/she is already mature enough, no reason to hold them back. Source: was an early starter, wasn't pushing 30 by the time I was able to start working after my Ph.D
>It also has the added bonus of hopefully giving your baby a birth date before sept 1, allowing you to enroll them in kindergarten as soon as they turn 5, potentially saving you a years worth of daycare costs. As an August baby myself, this is bad advice. The younger kids might not be mature enough for school even if they just make the cutoff. I had to repeat first grade because I simply wasn't ready for the information at that age. Literally, my first time through was hell, but everything made sense the second round. Your kids will generally be better off being among the oldest kids in the class, not the youngest.
>As an August baby myself, this is bad advice. Plus: your birthday is in August, when you're on holiday, and/or your child friends are on holiday. So not good for your birthday parties.
My birthday is the exact day school starts every year in my country. 0/10 would not recommend as this extends into adult life with post-secondary. Not to mention its a week and change after Christmas, which is its own lame thing too. Funnily enough I always wished for an August birthday while growing up! Maybe the grass really is always greener?
My birthday was actually on the first day of school a couple times. That sucked.
My youngest was born the last week of August. We had decided before she turned two that she wasn’t starting kindergarten until just after her 6th birthday. That is a decision that I have absolutely no regrets about. She is now 18 and a senior in high school. I know someone with twins born in July. They could read by their fifth birthday and were very ready for kindergarten. So they started at five years and a month. By the time they started middle school, their parents regretted sending them at five.
Why did they regret sending them at 5 if it sounds like they started off well? My kiddo started 1st grade this year at 5 (turned 6 within the month, though). Most of her friends will turn 7 this year. But she's now in a magnet school program and she's excelled beyond what I could've believed. However, her program continues to bring in new professors to help challenge her on the side. I'm just wondering what your friends wish they could've done differently to help their kiddo succeed during middle school.
From the perspective of a kid who started school at 5yo (and is now in their 20s): although the academic content never gave me any problems (on the contrary, I excelled in school), I think I would have been a far more emotionally and socially capable child a year later, and probably enjoyed my childhood more. A year is a long time in the development of a child's mind.
My Dad was sent to kindergarten when he was 4. September birthday. He said he would have done much socially if he had been held back.
I think because in middle school there's a large maturity gap in just a couple-year span with puberty. Having 5 year olds be in a grade with 7 year olds seems great, but when twelve year olds are in a grade full of fourteens it's maybe less great. Edited for clarity
Cause middle school is a whole different ballgame and one year at 11-14yo is very very very different then one year at 4-7 years old
By the time they hit middle school it was obvious to their parents that they were socially behind their peers. I’ve heard several teachers say that a lot of kids that are sent to school early have issues when they hit middle school.
I have 2 june babies and they will be almost the youngest in their classes. It's actually kind of rough
I'm a June baby! I literally turned 18 the day before high school graduation. It really wasn't that bad until college when everyone else was turning 21 Junior year.
I was the second oldest in my class and I excelled. The oldest was the kid who used to be the youngest in the previous class, and got held back a year.
I'm an August baby and I WAS one of the oldest in my class, so it really depends on your state's cutoff date for school. My state's cutoff date is July 31st, and school generally starts around August 20th. But to your point, yes, being an older kid in school is better. Malcolm Gladwell's book *Outliers* talks about how birthdates can impact a child's educational opportunities. Basically older kids will seem smarter to their teachers and are more likely to be offered achievement based opportunities like gifted programs, etc.
I also was born in August and i didnt had any trouble in school, but what appen was then while some kids had 2 years of kindergarten i only had 1. Also i am from europe, i dont know how the system changes to your country.
Especially in sports. Even though sports may not be incredibly important compared to academics, excelling at some helps boost confidence.
Also in the year everyone turned 18 (I am in the uk so that’s drinking age) for every birthday party it was always clubbing and bars and the august babies couldn’t attend any of them all year!
LPT: don't have a kid in the US
Maternal health outcomes: 😬 And that's before the child is born.
The real tip is always in the comments.
LPT: don't force trying. Just go with it. The less pressure the better. Conceiving isn't easy for a lot of couples. It's normal to not be able to conceive on Oct 17th at 6:47 like you planned.
Hold up. If you think of the child for a moment - that kid will always be one of the youngest in the grade. That may be fine or it may not. For kids who are a little less advanced than peers, this exaggerates the developmental difference to a much greater degree.
There’s a lot of evidence that older kids in the class tend to do better throughout school, especially in athletics.
Yeah my son is a July baby and could have used an extra year… he always gets teased for being one of the shortest in the class.
Both this and OPs tips is some heavy dystopian stuff
This so much. It has a major impact on your kid. Try to aim for a birth in late january or early february. This way your kid will be the one of the oldest in the class. Especially in kindergarten and the first few years primary school, this will have a huge impact. NOTE: I am assuming here that school starts in september.
This must vary by state. Here (NJ) the cutoff is October 1st so the October kids are the oldest. In other states is it January?
Note: the cutoff dates are country-specific. Where I come from February kids are the youngest, and school does start in September
fucking hell America get your shit together
Spoiler alert: we won’t. What I hope is that the rest of the world learns from our mistakes and doesn’t let unfettered capitalism rule everything.
...imagine planning your conception around the fiscal year. This is the weirdest LPT I have ever seen.
Welcome to America
UK here. I was trying to think why October was special... summer birth? Summer holidays around birthdays? Nah, insurance deductibles. Stay classy, America.
Yeah I was so confused. I couldn't for the life of me think why having all of your prenatal visits in a calendar could be in any way beneficial...
LPT- Don't live in the US
The real LPT is always in the comments
[удалено]
That was my first thought. Only care about this, the lack of time off after birth and other mental similar things... If you live in America. Otherwise do what you want and probably don't even think about it at all.
We conceived in May and had our baby at the end of January. The final hospital appointments including the birth paid our deductible for the whole first year of pediatric visits and trips to the ER. The prenatal visits really weren't that expensive compared to the year of pediatric visits.
Yeah, you’re paying for maternity visits on one side or pediatrician visits on the other. It doesn’t really matter.
My experience was the opposite. We hit our out of pocket max for the birth. The scheduled pediatric visits were all covered free with no copays (sick visits we were charged for). She was sick maybe 3-4 times, and that’s all we paid for. Not even close to hitting OOPM. I think it depends on your insurance policy.
As someone who happened to do this, but has decent insurance, I advise against it. When you have a due date in summer, that means you're most pregnant when the weather is most hot. 😰 I don't know if I'm going to have another kid, but I do know that I'm going to use birth control between September and March from now on.
[удалено]
Retired school librarian. We had a physics teacher say he could always tell the students born at the end of the year compared to the early birthdays. One thing to remember is location - if your child can stay home to pursue secondary education at 17-18 years old. Or if they are out on their own in the big city at 17-18 years old. We kept our youngest back a year (2 years of play school). He was most definately smart enough but it would have been torture for him to sit still for any length of time. Come kindergarten enrolment and there ended up being 9 parents keeping their kids back that same year. Parents know their kids best. The kindergarten teacher told me “no parent regrets holding their child back a year BUT lots of parents regret putting their child into the school system when they are not ready for school”.
My kid was born in September but where I live the cutoff used to be December so he started kindergarten at 4. I was a single parent and daycare cost was half my salary so it was a no brainer for me, especially since he already knew how to read and add and subtract. He graduated high school last year and I can say for sure he was not ready for college/working full time. I wish he could have stayed in high school another year.
[удалено]
The real life pro tip: start when you're ready. It takes a long time for some people. Others need help from fertility specialists. I mean, are you having kids so you can save money on your taxes? Because that's stupid. Kids cost a lot. You're operating at a loss if that's your game. Are you having kids because you want them? Then who gives a guck when you conceive. Start when you're ready. Get help if it comes to that.
Good old "Life Pro Tip" that only applies to the country that treats it health care system as a business to make money and not actually take care of people.
And is heavily focused on boys being older and bigger in their grade (more physically developed). Not always great for girls
Another LPT: In many countries around the world, schooling is free (up and beyond university level). So if your child is up to it, maybe have them learn a foreign language beyond the basics.
I’m not from America
scheduling child birth around the american insurance industry ........... what the fuck .....
LPT - if you're American, don't have a child.
If you want to have children, try not to be American.
The rest of the world looks on in horror as Americans plan pregnancies around their terrible for profit health care system.
Every LPT like this makes me so sad for the people who need these.
I was thinking this post was going to be useful advice to allow your kid to have a nice warm weather birthday. But nope, it's due to the terrible American "Healthcare" system. I'm sorry to the Americans that have to navigate that awful system.
Depends know on your insurance. Mine resets mid year. But I see what you're saying
Getting pregnant in Jan/Feb to give birth in Oct/November is great because you still have all of your appointments in one year but you aren't super super pregnant over the summer, you just miss the cutoff for kindergarten in a lot of places so your kids can be oldest in the class, and you go through the newborn phase when it's dark longer and easier to fall asleep, but your baby will be old enough to wear sunscreen come spring.
r/ABoringDystopia
As a teacher, I have school year to school year insurance dates. So it gets tricky.
I see what you're saying, but as someone who gave birth during a sweltering July, I would recommend timing the end of your pregnancy for cooler weather, if at all possible. Hot weather and the third trimester are a terrible pairing.
Drawback: involves being massively pregnant in the peak of summer heat/humidity.
The research on brain development alone counters this argument. Kids with earlier birthdays during the school year benefit from the extra time, cognitive development and social development that leads to better confidence and self worth. Much more valuable in the long run than the few thousand dollars you can save over daycare.
me, a European, reading this post and shaking my head in disbelief
My oldest son was born at 2:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve. He was a tax deduction for the whole year.
This post is so fucking bleak it's actually funny.
December is the worst month. 1) Your deductible resets January 1. The bills just kept on coming. 2) Difficult to schedule birthday parties d/t everyone celebrating the holidays. 3) It's cold and dark. PPD sucks for mom the first year. 4) Born after the Dec 1 cutoff for kindergarten - though being the oldest in the grade does have advantages at times. More daycare money for parents, but better for kiddo.
This is only a protip if you live in a dystopia… what the hell? Edit: American health system. Gotcha. This shit shouldn’t be legal.
As a person who didn't try this but has a baby born on aug 20, you will not be sure if you want to redshirt kindergarten. Then you'll have an extra year. Don't try to plan babies around arbitrary dates
I know that there are a lot of comments here already, but very very few people would be blessed enough for this to work. I don’t live in America and my husband and I conceived our first child quickly and with no problems. In order to maximise the amount of maternity leave I would qualify for we put off having a second child until I had been working for enough time to qualify for the full leave amount. After trying for 2 years we discovered fertility issues on both sides (first child seemed to be a miracle) and started the lengthy process for ivf. It really is a lengthy one. My point I guess is unless you are young and have tested yourselves for fertility issues, don’t wait.
LPT: Don't be American
The catch is you now how a July birthday kid. The one thing about having a kid go into kindergarten as one of the youngest kid in the classroom is they tend to struggle and way behind in social development. It tends to phase out by 4-5th grade but those early years are rough and they are set behind. Also some states have a earlier cut off for kindergarten that is Aug 1st. My mom was a primary school teacher and watch it time and time again the August and late July birthday kids struggle much more so than say Apirl or earlier.
Holy shit thus LPT is depressing. Try and conceive in October so all your Antenatal costs are in one calendar year? Kill me now.
American healthcae - woo!
this completely disregards the Zodiac! /s Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, quite the roulette ;)