Do you share the same birth month as your little one?
If so, you may have put this down to a happy little coincidence.
However, it happens to more mums than you would think, which prompted scientists to see if there was any concrete evidence behind the phenomena.
In new research published in the Journal Population Studies, over 10 million births in Spain and France were examined between a 33-year period from 1980-2013.
It was found that there were 4.6% more birth months shared between mother and child than originally estimated.
The research also discovered that there were 12.1% more expected siblings with shared birth months.
The findings stated that siblings are more likely to share the same birth month as their mum, but also tend to share the same birth month as their fathers.
Many may put this down to ‘family planning’, but the new study has determined that this isn’t always the case and it could be associated with several factors.
Dr. Adela Recio Alcaide, an epidemiologist at the University of Alcala, says the higher probabilities of family members being born in the same season can be ‘both social and biological’.
According to the findings, biological factors including temperature, humidity, availability of food, and exposure to sunlight, can all affect fertility, and were pinpointed for determining when a woman gives birth.
“Rather than being a random variable, birth season seems to be related to family characteristics,” the research states.
The sociodemographic characteristics of mums also play a role in the time of year they welcome children.
These factors include maternal education, age, parity, re‐partnering, race, social class, birth order or legitimacy.
Education, the research found, also determined the month a mum gave birth.
“In Spain, for example, a woman with a higher education is more likely to give birth in the spring than a woman without a higher education.
“If she has a daughter, in addition to being more likely to be born in the spring, this daughter may be more likely to have higher education since her mother has it.
“Thus, when this daughter has children, she will be more likely to have them in the spring too,” the reason states.
The data was collected from all births in Spain from 1980 to 1983 and from 2016 to 2019, as well as births in France from 2000 to 2003 and 2010 to 2013.
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