It makes sense that late summer is the most popular time of year for births; lots of babies are conceived around Christmastime. But is there a certain time of day when most babies make their grand entrance to the world?
Scientific American, the Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention teamed up for a study showing the most popular times of day for births. The data reveals that more babies are born at 8 o’clock in the morning than at any other time. According to the CDC’s diagram showing the number of babies born by minute, there is a major peak at 8 a.m., with a smaller peak between noon and 1 p.m.
So what’s the reason for this morning baby boom? No, it’s not because the new babies want to make the most of their first-ever birthday. It’s because 8 a.m. is the time many mothers choose to have their babies.
According to Scientific American, over 98 percent of babies in the United States are born in hospitals. And while doctors “can’t schedule spontaneous labor,” more and more births are being planned. Only about 50 percent of births are vaginal or “natural,” while 38 percent are C-sections and 18 percent are induced. These “scheduled births,” C-sections in particular, are the big reason so many babies are born in the morning. Here’s more about why C-sections have become so popular.
The mothers’ and doctors’ decisions combine to make 8 a.m. the most popular birth time. These birth peaks, however, only occur on weekdays, mainly because of the hospitals’ workweek schedules. Monday is the day with the most 8 a.m. births, but every weekday sees a significant surge in births at 8 a.m.
When it comes to natural births, however, there’s no primary time for babies to be born; the diagram only shows a night-and-day-related pattern. Twenty to 30 percent more babies are born naturally between 6:45 am and 6 p.m. than during the night. But there’s no peak like there is for C-section births. The majority of 8 a.m. surgical births are still enough to make that time the overall biggest birth time.
