Strollerderby

They Say: Boy Births More Complicated

Posted by Madeline Holler

No, not boys giving birth (anyway, he wouldn't agree). But giving birth to boys is apparently more complicated than giving birth to girls, a new study out of Irsael claims.

These findings lend credence to the old wives tale that I had never before heard, which is that a difficult pregnancy means the baby will be a boy. (Anybody hear that one?)

After looking at 66,000 births, researchers at Tel Aviv University found a slightly greater risk for prematurity or c-section delivery for boy births than for girls. This backed up the findings of study a decade ago, which found males births were a 1.5 times more likely to get stuck in the birth canal.

From the NY Times:

Scientists point out that these findings do not indicate that male births are necessarily “high risk,” just slightly more risky than female births. One reason, it seems, is the larger head size of male babies. But there is speculation that other factors, like higher levels of androgens, may also play a role. 

Any midwives, nurses, docs, doulas, etc., etc., have their own intuition on this?

By the way, I've also heard boys grow up and never call home, too. Can someone study that because I just had a son and thinking of that makes me panic.

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Photo: dailymail.co.uk


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Comments

 

Nicole said:

This is timely; I just got back from visiting a friend in the hospital who just had a son. Labor was induced. She got to 10 centimeters, pushed for a long time, he still wouldn't descend, the doctors tried a vacuum, and no luck; ended up with a c-section. I'll be curious what the experts have to say on this.

April 16, 2009 7:23 PM
 

Larissa said:

The nurses at a hospital in Maryland where I used to work always said "Boys make trouble" but their attitude was so pathological and high-intervention that I felt that their opinions and observations were highly colored by it.  However, in my experience there, it did seem like I saw more variable heartrates (that in turn could be artistically interpreted as distress by high-fear RNs and OBs) from boys than from girls.  

April 16, 2009 7:41 PM
 

Mae said:

My first child was a boy and the labor was long and arduous. He had a big noggin too (still does). My husband still calls his mom and visits often. I think you have hope that your son will continue to call.

April 16, 2009 7:47 PM
 

Manjari said:

My mom has been a NICU and ICU nurse for over 30 years, and she has always said that boys are more fragile as newborns than girls are.

April 16, 2009 7:53 PM
 

Manjari said:

Also, that baby is so cute!

April 16, 2009 8:00 PM
 

Melissa said:

Nicole described my exact birth situation. I feel a little better about it now.

April 16, 2009 10:30 PM
 

lovedannygansle said:

My first son was stuck and in distress after over two hours of pushing - OB said "this one's stubborn, must be a boy".  After much trouble getting him out, he was finally delivered by forceps.  When he appeared the doc said "It's a boy" in an irritated, told-you-so-voice.

April 16, 2009 11:17 PM
 

Emma said:

Both my boys were easy pregnancies and easy births - the second was so quick that we didn't even make it to the hospital. In contrast, I have a friend who had major major problems requiring surgery after a very difficult birth of a girl. And another who described the birth of her girl as "violent" (due to the force required to pull her out.) So while statisitcally boy births may be more complicated, I don't think anyone should count on this as being a given...

April 17, 2009 6:05 AM
 

kate said:

re: boys (men, I think they're called) growing up and never calling their mamas - - hello, anyone have a husband?

April 17, 2009 2:23 PM
 

Tricia said:

I had a really easy pregnancy with my twin boys until the end when I got preeclampsia, one baby broke his water 5 weeks early, 19 hours of labor, babies "stuck," followed by a c-section and then 17 and 24 days in the NICU... Perhaps there is some truth to this "study" after all. Boys are doing great now... until they grow up and forget to call their mother... but that's still a few years off.

April 17, 2009 3:37 PM
 

Emily said:

I'd guess birthing boys might be more difficult because they tend to be slightly bigger, on average.  But who knows, every baby is different! :-)

April 17, 2009 5:25 PM
 

g said:

i had a csection because my son was breech..it was not a difficult pregnancy at all...also he was 2 weeks early, and not at all fragile at 8 pds 9 ozs!!

April 17, 2009 7:32 PM
 

Suzie said:

Well it all makes sense,  They don't want to leave in the first place, so they grow up and spend all their time trying to get back in.  

April 18, 2009 1:47 AM
 

Pamela said:

I had a boy- dialated to 9 cm and no further... His head was turned sideways so after 19 hours of labour, the doctor did a c-section.

April 18, 2009 12:09 PM
 

coolteamblt said:

I lost 20 pounds from HG during the first six months of my pregnancy. After that, I had severe heartburn that made me puke three or four times a day. They induced me two days before my due date because the baby was so big. I dislocated my hips during labor because I pushed so hard, and required about seven billion stitches from the tearing. Okay, I don't know how many stitches it was, but I had third degree tearing. I had a boy.

April 20, 2009 12:14 PM
 

Angus said:

I have two boys and one on the way, any day.

Oldest had, has, a huge head and was petty easy.

Second was a bit early and FAST.  

None of my labours were hard, and I could talk through the contractions right until the end.  The nurses didn't know that H was crowning because I was still talking.

Conversly, I'd say girls are harder, since I've miscarried two of them.  

April 21, 2009 12:25 AM
 

Uber Mom said:

I was in labor for 14 hours.  Once they added pitocin to the IV, he changed his mind and pushed himself back up into by abdomen- butt under my ribs on the right, head resting on my left hip, he was born via c-section.  I had all day sickness my entire pregnancy, too!  Compared to me (over 9 lbs. and I STILL have a huge head!)  my son was 6lbs 3oz and his peanut sized noggin finally at 6 yrs crawled onto the normal side of the scale.  He is my utter joy in life, so the rest really doesn't matter.  

April 21, 2009 8:34 AM

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