American women are timing their pregnancies to give birth in spring

Many women spring for a baby♕ in March, April or 𝄹May — and some would even pony up to ensure the timing.

US moms who are educated and married are more likely to have tried for a spring birth for their first baby, according to a new study And married moms aged𒉰 20 to 45 would actually shell out $877 on average to guarantee a spring birth if it were possible.

Women working in “education, training and library” professions are more likely to plan for spring births. They may do that in ordꦕer to maximize their time with the baby, the researchers said, by heading on maternity leave prio♊r to the start of their summer break.

The US remains the only industrialized nation that doesn’t mandate paid parental leave by law. Just 17🔥 percent of civilian workers have access to paid family leave, Though the Family Medical✨ Leave Act (FMLA) allows 12 weeks off to eligible employees, pay isn’t guaranteed.

“There really is a desire to give birth in the spring in the US,” study co-author Sonia Oreffice, a🙈 professor of economics at the UK’s University of Exeter,

The preference is often health-related, she s🔥aid, as moms try to distance themselvဣes and their babies from peak season for flu and other germs.

“Knowing parents are making these choices for their first child, coupled with the fact that overall the most p♛revalent birth season is summer, helps policy-makers to better design policies targeting job flexibility, parenthood and child health and development,” she added. The authors conducted a series of experiments using 3,661 participant༒s on the crowdsourcing

It could pay to be born in the spring: People born in March or April are around as those born in June or July to 🃏become CEOs, according to a 2012 study of CEOs by the University🃏 of British Columbia.

One theory as to why: People born in the summer underperform in school due to admission cut-off dates, that study’s co-author suggest✤ed, as kids born in spring were older within their grade and those born in summer were younger.

Separate 2017 research found that “the youngest children in class are lagging significantly behind their older peers on the educational track anཧd need more time to reach the same level of🔯 earnings,” and that “the oldest children in class have a substantially higher GPA than their younger peers.”

The authors of the most recent Journal of Applied Econometrics study𝓰 on parental leave also found that respondents on average would be prepared to pay around $620 for a spring birth, versus the willingness to pay $877 among ma๊rried moms aged 20 to 45.

Damian Clarke, an associate professor of economics at the University of Santiago in Chile and Climent Quintana-Domeque, a professor of economics at the University of Exeter, co-authored the latest paper on child birth and♋ parental leave with Oreffice✅.

The researchers used US birth certificate and US Census Bureau data from 2005 to 2014 in their analysis, finding t🔯hat the probability of having a spring baby was significantly related to factors among married women including a mom’s education, race, age and ethnicity, as well as smoking and receiving food assistance while pregnant.