Did you like having a fall/winter baby?

[zarapipe]

I know we can't choose which season we would like to have children, but we can try to avoid seasons. I loved having a March baby. It was starting to get nice outside, DD started daycare in June when there were less sick kids, etc. Now that we are thinking about TTC I am either leaning to 3.5-4 years apart. 3.5 years apart puts another LO being born September- November. I was a November baby and it has been fine, but I can't but help think of having a baby in the cold season, being stuck in the house, sending LO off to daycare at the height of flu season...

Anyone have any insight?

[hannamarin]

L was born Nov 2nd.
This winter was pretty mild, but I loved having a small baby in the winter. We went outside akmost every day. She was bundled up.
Summer is so hard. Cover them up from the sun, but dont overheat them and no sunscreen allowed! Eek. Air conditioning is so un natural to me. And in and out of heat to cold cant be good. And then bugs!

There is also more dark hours in winter for circadian clock to reset.

But I think there are pros and cons to everything.

[EloiseWeenie]

I have 2 kids, one born in April and one born in October. So far, I prefer the fall. I live in the south and it is very hot during the summer. I found it much easier keeping myself cool, than worrying about my newborn overheating (also not worrying about newborns and sunscreen). I had concerns with cold/flu season, but we lucked out and were sick-free this winter. I am a SAHM, and avoided sick people when we knew we'd be around them. My older kid wasn't in preschool, so it was easier to avoid sickness.

In the end, you can't control when you get sick. My niece and nephew were both born in March and are sick every month. Although my kids haven't been sick yet, I know their days are coming when they go to school.

[slug*bug]

Jun 13, 2012 9:09:35 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

I can't but help think of having a baby in the cold season, being stuck in the house, sending LO off to daycare at the height of flu season...

If you have a flu shot while pregnant, baby should be protected up until 6 mos. of age...so you would technically be able to protect him/her from flu specifically. I agree re: other illnesses, though, esp. if DC is in the mix...but we were (knock on wood) pretty lucky that first year. I don't know that it would've necessarily been worse if they'd been born in the fall.

[lishie]

My boys were march and october, there were nice parts to both.

October was still mild enough that i took him outside for walks even when he was really little. I enjoyed having maternity leave over the holidays. I wasn't overly worried about winter illnesses, and my march baby was sick at daycare more then my october baby.

I had much worse weather with rain and snow for my march baby, so I actually got outside more with my fall baby than my spring one...and I had to worry a lot more about sun exposure with my 3 month old in June - August than I did with my 9 month old when he had his first summer.

[twila]

I have had babies in June and October. I preferred June by far. I live in the Northeast where the winters can be brutal. I hated being cooped up inside all winter because I was afraid to take such a little baby out and about. Sun exposure was not an issue because he wasn't mobile yet so I just put him in the shade while we were outside and he would stay put.

[froggy76]

I am a November baby and so is DD. I've never minded too much, but my mom always hated that my birthday is so close to Christmas. She could never get away without buying me more clothes in the summer.

I liked having DD in November because I was on leave through the holidays. I also didn't mind being a shut-in. We had a really mild winter, so we were still able to take walks occassionally, but for the most part, we just stayed inside.

Starting daycare during the winter might have been an issue, but we held off until April. We still all got really sick within 3 weeks of DD starting daycare.

[jenny1223]

DS was born in January. I loved it. We get a lot of snow in the winter and I generally like being at home. Now that the weather is nice and DS is older, it's a lot easier and more enjoyable to go out with him.

[hannamarin]

Also less pressure to lose the baby weight if you have a winter baby. Hide under the layers.

[mollybrown]

I have December and July babies. I didn't find one to be more preferable than the other. My oldest was born in December, but I wasn't in a rush to be outside anyway. He didn't really enjoy the stroller until 3 or 4 months, so it worked out perfectly. I did enjoy not having to go anyplace during the heart of winter. I didn't find any negatives to having a summer baby either.

The only thing I really thought about was school year. DS will be one of the oldest in his class when he starts school. He had some developmental challenges, so I'm actually glad he'll have the extra year to catch up.

[zarapipe]

Jun 13, 2012 10:15:18 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

I have December and July babies. I didn't find one to be more preferable than the other. My oldest was born in December, but I wasn't in a rush to be outside anyway. He didn't really enjoy the stroller until 3 or 4 months, so it worked out perfectly. I did enjoy not having to go anyplace during the heart of winter. I didn't find any negatives to having a summer baby either.

The only thing I really thought about was school year. DS will be one of the oldest in his class when he starts school. He had some developmental challenges, so I'm actually glad he'll have the extra year to catch up.

very true... I liked being one of the older kids. That is a definate advantage IMO

[liveintheville]

Kid 1 was born in early October. It was fine. But I was very glad Kid 2 was born in May.
First kid it was doable to stay in all day. Kid 1 was 2.5 when Kid 2 was born, and I absolutely had to be able to get him out of the house, so a May birthday for Kid 2 worked out perfectly.

[rootbeerfloat]

Mine were born in December and October. I live in the tropics, so it was actually better to be out and about during that time of year. It was also nice to be off during the holidays.

The sickness thing seemed to be more of a problem with my Oct baby, and I wonder if the timing contributed to her contracting RSV at 5 weeks. With DS (born in Dec), I could keep him away from people in the beginning, and he started daycare in spring. DD started smack dab in the middle of cold/flu season.

[biscoffcookies]

I have an early December baby, and it worked out really well for us. Luckily, the weather was super-mild so we were able to leave the house without much fuss (I barely got any use out of my BundleMe and no use out of my little baby snowsuit!).

However, during DD's first couple months of life I was so tired that I didn't have much desire to leave the house beyond quick trips to the grocery store and Target (during which we were in the car anyway). We didn't have much problem with illness -- whenever people visited we were good about having them wash their hands, and I just draped a blanket over DD's carseat in stores so that people wouldn't be tempted to touch her.

I took an almost 6 month leave, so DD just started daycare this month. 3 weeks in, and no sickness (knock on wood!).

Honestly, my biggest concern with DD's birthdate is how it falls right between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I worry that later on that she might feel her birthday is eclipsed by the holidays or it is hard to have a birthday party given all the holiday parties, people traveling, etc. However, friends of ours who have birthdays in the same neighborhood tell me it will be fine.

[noonecareswhoiam]

Both my kids came home in December and it was horrible! Granted, they were older infants (8 and 10 months) so not sleeping constantly. But I live in Chicago and the year #2 came home we had record-breaking cold temps in January that made it unsafe for me to take him outside for more that a couple of minutes.

Once the holidays were over I was totally house-bound and miserable, and I'm pretty sure that contributed to some serious post-adoption depression.

But if you live in Arizona, that won't be your experience, so YMMV.

[Deleted]

I hated having a November baby.

Winter babies :N: Not doing it again next time if I can help it.

[Deleted]

I hated having a November baby as well. The time change always makes me anxious, & adding ppd to the mix did not help at all.

[GailGoldie]

I was thrilled that I had spring babies both times... DS1 = March 30th (was supposed to be end of April)... and the twins are June 15th. I LOVED having my maternity leave in the summer... loved that they weren't tiny during cold/flu season so i could go out and not worry about germs, etc.

I get a bit of S.A.D during the winter months - so i would have been MISERABLE having a winter baby- i know that for a fact- and specificially did my IF treatments during a time that would = spring baby... and planned to skip months that would = winter baby, if it had gone on that long. i was fortunate it didn't.

[af1212]

My first daughter was a December baby, and this one will be a late October/early November baby. I planned it that way. I think it will be nice that by the time the weather gets nice here, the new baby will be about 6 months, able to wear sunscreen, sit up in the grass on a blanket, have more regular naps, etc. Also, I am a former K teacher, and it was important to me to have kids be on the older side in their class when they start school.

[Brie]

I'm looking forward to having a September baby. I don't mind being a homebody, and we'll be stuck inside when he's really too small to enjoy going out and doing stuff. By the time he's 6+ months, the weather will be nice again and we can go out.

[pugz]

I'm excited to have an August baby, it will be nice to be on maternity leave during the fall when the weather is nice.