Us mothers are always concerned about having a baby in the cold and flu season because of the chances of our baby getting sick-thus we hide indoors until Mother’s Day to spare the risk.
Though that is cause for some concern, there are lifetime factors that show which birth month affects baby health later in life.
We’re usually just focused on the immediate health of our newborn-and we should, no problem there. And you’re making decisions about your birth that will affect your baby’s lifetime risks, such as natural vaginal birth benefits, factors affecting Autism (like folic acid), there are many.
But did you think about what month your baby would be born and what that could tell you about their risk for certain diseases later in life? Interestingly, there’s a connection.
Birth Month Affects Baby Health
According to a data study published this week in the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association, by scientists at Columbia University Medical Center, the month or season in which your baby is born has a small connection to a possibility of developing certain diseases later in life. Such diseases include:
- variations of Heart Disease
- certain Respiratory Diseases
- some mental illnesses like ADHD
For example, for someone born in the summer months, mainly September, they’re more likely to develop Asthma in their lifetime. Or another individual born in March is more likely to acquire Atherosclerosis.
Here’s a great chart showing the major data points that stuck out after compiling the data from 1.7 million people born across a few decades. You can see which ones are highlighted as specific cases.
Image courtesy of newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu
Each of those colored dots is a disease or condition developed by all of the individuals studied. Then they were grouped by birth month according to which condition they had. The dots surrounding the inner circle are all of the very low risk occurrences. Where those that are farther out of the circle are higher risk correlations.
It’s interesting to really look at. If you see in October, there is a larger number of higher risk conditions present, than say in May or July.
What’s My Baby’s Risk?
It’s important to remember that just because your child is born in a certain time of year, it DOES NOT mean that they are going to develop any relative conditions. Sure, there are logical correlations that make sense.
The differing times of the year come with different hazards or exposures that we’re all common too.
Winter months often mean dirtier air from inversions holding down the air pollution.
Spring months come with tons of pollen and plant antigens that we are surrounded by.
Much of the risk can be associated with environmental similarities. (Learn the difference between cause and association in this post here.)
But that DOESN’T EXCLUDE the thousands of other factors affecting your child’s health, such as diet and exercise when you’re pregnant, and after they’re born and developing into adults-let alone millions of genetic factors.
The leading doctor that put the data set together is even quoted:
“It’s important not to get overly nervous about these results because even though we found significant associations the overall disease risk is not that great. The risk related to birth month is relatively minor when compared to more influential variables like diet and exercise.”
-Dr. Nick Tatonetti, Columbia University Medical Center
Another thing to take into account is the source of individuals studied-they were all residents of New York City. That will tell you something right there.
℘ If you live in Nebraska on a farm, are your baby’s risks going to be environmentally the same as a baby living in a huge metropolis? NO.
℘ If your family already has a known genetic factor for a disease, is your neighbor’s child going to have the same risk as yours for that disease? NO.
℘ Should you find a fancy calendar and due date calculator that will predict your baby’s risks so that you can try to minimize them by trying to conceive at a certain time? NO.
Not that any of those things aren’t important. It’s just that publications like this should NOT get you worried.
℘ Are you doing what you can to stay healthy during your pregnancy to minimize risks to your child? YES.
℘ Are you going to move to another area based on this information? NO.
℘ Is this education simply enlightening and mind opening to what may affect your children’s growth and lifetime health. YES.
Just knowing that there are common threads of medical information we can keep in mind is helpful enough. Here’s the quick video developed by the publishers that you may find informational as well.
I don’t live in New York City. But I do live in an area where air pollution can be just as bad.
My first son was born in September, and though I don’t expect him to get Asthma during his lifetime, I have seen things that I can attribute to what this study has published.
He commonly has coughs and has had minor croupe twice, and he is yet even three years old.
Am I concerned about his likelihood of developing other respiratory diseases? No, but I do what I can to fortify his immune system now while he’s growing-because it’s something that I CAN control.
Protect Your Baby From Radiation With This Little Blanket
We also recently built a home and we added an additional air cleaner to our ventilation system in order to cut down on pollutants as well. But beyond that, I can’t fully change his environment.
It’s about all those little steps you take in order to stack up your fortifications. What are you doing about keeping your children healthy? Are you worried about the month they’ll be born in?
Remember, you can do hard things.
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Neil says
Hey, Sarah. You have just taught me something new as I dind’t know that birth months can afffect babies health. I was born in January, which probably explains why I used to be ill a lot as a child and a teenager 🙁
Luckily, I’m not as ill as I used to be (Touch Wood).
Excellent post and a lot of valuable information that will give parents some extra knowledge. Cheers, Neil
Thanks for sharing Neil. Visit anytime!
Hello Sarah! Love your blog! Interesting topic
Thanks Angel. Feel free to share.
William says
I do believe that environment effects health early on. Immunity is something to build as well, So a question. Will early protecting weaken later? I believe in letting some nature take its course. Like chicken pox. Basically can we over protect?
It depends on what you mean by ‘protecting.’ If you mean building up an immune system in a healthy and safe way, then I don’t believe there is anything wrong with that and you can’t exceed a level there, if you know what I mean. We can always strengthen our immune system at any stage in life. It’s just that when we do it wen our children our still growing, their very genetics and biological factors that are developed more-so in the beginning of their lives is more greatly influenced.
Now if you mean ‘protecting’ like the over use of hand sanitizer, always resorting to medication and antibiotics, never allowing our children to be exposed to allergens by not letting them play outside, not having pets…those things are more detrimental because it’s not allowing our bodies to build up defenses against the common things we normally encounter.
That’s why it’s SO important to allow a baby’s microbiome to be naturally acquired at birth and breastfeeding as long as possible are nature’s key ways to help us grow. Even every time we get a cold or the flu, we’re becoming immune to that exact pathogen by just fighting through the illness. Thing is, are we strong enough as babies to be able to overcome all common illnesses surrounding us? Everyone is different and it’s up to you to make the proper choices for your children.
EXCELLENT question William. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Manuel says
Hi Sarah,
Wow, I wasn’t aware of that fact and I find this very interesting. I have never thought of what kind of influence the birth month could have, but as this post shows that there are “better” and “worse” month.
I was born in January and I don’t hope to get hypertension. Is there something like a best birth month where the risk is the lowest?
Cheers
Manuel
Yes, according to the study article that I linked to in the post, May is the best month as far as long term affects later in life. But then again, remember that all of this data was acquired from children living in NYC. Your individual circumstances will vary. Thanks Manuel!
Jade says
Hi,
Love your website:) Its beautiful, open and has wonderful content! Thoroughly enjoyed your article 🙂 Jade
Thanks, Jade! Feel free to share and stop by for more. You may also find this post to your liking: how the age of the mother affects risks to their unborn child. Stop by anytime, thanks!
Mike says
WOW Sarah!
This is such an interesting article..it never occurred to me the potential risks that a baby’s birth month would have on their health later in life. I haven’t been blessed with children yet..but this gives a new perspective for my spouse and me!.
I really appreciate you writing this..I’m bookmarking your site right now!
I’m glad to hear it Mike. Whenever you and your wife are expecting, let me know what I can do to help. You may also enjoy these two other posts on your baby’s microbiome and positive side affects of natural births. There is mountains of information in them I know you’ll like too. Best!
Nnamdi says
Hello Sarah, I think you are doing a great job on mothers and birth. And you have shown yet another professionalism on this post, Birth Month Affects Baby Health Later In Life.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for stopping by again Nnamdi. Best to you and yours!
Hi Sarah, I’m glad this post came with some clarifications. When I began to read it at first I began to think that this was information that you’re better off not knowing or worrying about. After all, what can you do to prevent your baby from being born on certain months unless you are going to plan your sex life around identifying the best conception dates. That would be too weird.
Kinda surprising research at the same time. Too late for me - my kid is 14 and I’m not planning anymore.
It would be VERY weird and just down right ridiculous to try and plan things that way too, because you can never know exactly when things will happen. With my first two children, we had to three consistently for two to three months before conceiving. But with this baby #3 on the way, we were going by my cycle (and never had trouble before) and still ended up pregnant when we weren’t even trying! Life just happens. Thanks Eion!
yunier says
I am absolutely blown away by the sheer amount of variables that can affect a babies help…. I hope this fantastic article that you have written will shed some light on the precautions that parents should take with their child.
It’s important to not get overwhelmed by everything that can affect us and our children. Planning for and actively doing our part in dealing with what we CAN control is will enough-without all the anxiety over everything else. Thanks for your comment, Yunier!