When I was pregnant (both times) my then-boyfriend (now husband) was very helpful in indulging me in my at times rather bizarre and demanding cravings.
Love Hearts (you know the fizzy sweets), balsamic vinegar (on everything!) and Caesar salad – from one
specific TGI Friday's that required quite the drive just to get there.
I know – just all sorts of weird.
What he did not do, though, was develop any weird craving of his own (to my knowledge, anyway).
The thing is, though, according to the experts, those sympathy cravings are real —with one study even finding up to
80% of expectant fathers experience symptoms or cravings common in pregnancy.
In professional circles, these "cravings" are called “couvade” and the feelings can extend from everything to cravings to actual pregnancy or even labour pains.
This is what biology professor Katherine E. Wynne-Edwards had to say to
Scientific American:
“A large number of mental health professionals have considered a range of hypotheses—from jealousy about a man's inability to carry a child to guilt over having caused this transformation in his partner to selfish attention seeking—as the root causes of couvade.”
Another explanation – and a far simpler one, to be fair – is that the father-to-be could just end up being tempted by whatever his baby mama is scoffing down (late night ice cream binges, anyone...?!)
