Ask any teacher who has a child what month that child was born in, and you’ll find that very few have had Summer babies. The school term starts in September for reasons that are lost in the annals of time (though personally I wonder if it’s because so many babies are conceived over the New Year period…?) and that can mean that if a baby is born in August they will be nearly a year younger than some of their classmates.
When I decided that I wanted a baby (something very strange happened to my hormones and all I could think about was getting pregnant, and everywhere I looked there were babies and pregnant women), I didn’t give a darn what month the baby was born in as long as it was conceived immediately. I should, really, have been more calculating about it apparently, since there are definitely pros and cons of having your child born in different months of the year.
When I started trying for a baby, though, I did think that it would take a fair few months to fall pregnant, so perhaps in the back of my mind was the idea that I ought to have a baby in September or October, the start of the academic year. Moreover, there has been research carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that revealed that babies born in August are more likely to leave school at 16, more likely to be bullied, and end up with worse exam results and go to poorer universities than their Autumn counterparts.
There are social disadvantages to being a summer baby: you can’t learn to drive whilst others in your year have already got cars; you can’t drink whilst your mates are buying rounds; your birthday is in the school holidays when most of your friends are away and can’t come to your parties.
They also have to start school earlier – so a baby born in July or August will start full-time school just after they turn four whereas a child born in September can stay with their mums (and get all that lovely one-to-one attention) or in nursery until they are five.
It’s not just summer babies who are at risk of some adverse consequence or another. Babies born in Autumn may have the advantage of being the oldest in the class but they are also more prone to allergies. And children born in December and January of course get fewer presents because of Christmas.
My baby was born in July – a boy – and since then, all I have read about is how summer-born boys are the worst performers at school (since they’re nearly a year younger than most of their peers and boys don’t do as well as girls generally). I had a friend whose little boy was learning to crawl at eight months old – when my baby wasn’t quite into his sixth month in my womb – and that child is in my son’s year at school. The difference in development between children born several months apart is huge, but it lessens as they get older. Would I change things if I could turn back the clock? Of course I wouldn’t. I have a beautiful, healthy boy who, as it happens, is very bright and is near the top of his class anyway, July birth or not.