Life
Winter Babies Get These Cool Benefits To Brag About For The Rest Of Their Lives
The wait for a baby can get really tedious, so it's no surprise moms-to-be get impatient to learn anything they can about their impending arrival. If you've cycled through their prospective sun signs and your baby will arrive before spring, here are a few facts about winter babies that might help you get to know your little one before they make their debut.
Winter babies have a few interesting things going for them, and the differences between infants born during cold months and others are often attributed to the availability of vitamin D, both in utero and outside the womb, according to the American Pregnancy Organization. It's fascinating to consider how much influence one essential vitamin derived from the sun has on humans, especially during the dark days of winter when it's in short supply. It stands to reason that the lack of sunlight would affect newborns as well. Thankfully, as Fit Pregnancy reported, expecting moms can help to make up for the low levels of sunshine by taking vitamin D supplements.
Other seasonal factors that could affect winter-born babies are changes in temperature, amounts of ultraviolet light and rainfall, which are also typically at their lowest points in the calendar year when these infants are born. Luckily, these wintry characteristics result in some pretty cool attributes for babies born in the cold (no supplements required). Read on to know a little more about your little snow baby.
1They'll Probably Have Higher IQ Scores
In an expansive 2006 study led by Harvard University, scientists studied the development of 21,000 babies around the world for seven years and found significant differentiations among the subjects based on the season of their birth. One of the most notable findings is that winter babies scored higher on neurocognitive tests than others.
2They Could Be Pretty Big
That same 2006 study discovered that winter births measured longer... and at age 7, those babies were taller, heavier and had a larger head circumference than babies born in other seasons.
3They Could Be Creatively Gifted
A small 2015 study noted that children born in January and February displayed higher levels of creativity and imaginative problem solving, according to TIME, so maybe you'll have an artistic genius on your hands!
4They Could Be Better Behaved Than Their Friends
You may not want to shout it from the rooftops, but New Zealand scientists found summer babies have a difficult time sharing and making friends than winter babies. As explained by Essential Baby, Queensland's University of Technology issued questionnaires to parents of almost 5,000 four-and five-year-olds. Those born in the hottest season struggled with concepts of cooperation with peers and authority figures. Scientists attributed their behavioral struggles to a lack of vitamin D exposure during a formative period of fetal development, while those born in December, January and February were just fine.
5They Tend To Crawl Earlier
Get ready, because your winter baby could be on the move earlier than you'd expect. Researchers at Israel's University of Haifa studied 47 typically developing babies and found that those born during winter beat the average crawling age of 31 weeks by about seven days, according to ScienceDaily. Summer babies, on the other hand, were perfectly happy being toted around until they reached about 35 weeks.
6They Won't Have To Compete For Class Birthday Parties
While scientists speculate that being trapped indoors during the winter months results in lots of babies born at the end of summer, Live Science reported that the opposite is true for kids born in the dead of winter. Reproductive adults are most likely to be living their best lives during the months a winter baby would be conceived, so fewer babies are born in December, January and February.
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