Moon and pregnancy

[mouse goddess]

Has anyone heard anything about lunar eclipses affecting pregnancies...such as starting labor, or giving the baby a cleft palate?

[Buckle Up]

Originally Posted by mouse goddess

Has anyone heard anything about lunar eclipses affecting pregnancies...such as starting labor, or giving the baby a cleft palate?

In the book Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?, a sequel to the popular Why Do Men Have Nipples?, the authors ascribe these notions to old wives' tales and nothing but, and there have been no studies suggesting that lunar activity, whether regular activity or unusual activity e.g. eclipses, has anything to do with pregnancy or the induction of labor. There is anecdotal data from people who have worked on hospital maternity wards, but no scientific data.

Originally Posted by Buckle Up

There is anecdotal data from people who have worked on hospital maternity wards, but no scientific data.

Yep. I have even seen docs that "believe" this. Well, they realize one has nothing to do with the other, but there do seem to be more babies born in a full moon. Of course, this could be one of those "choose only to remember what fulfills my own beliefs" type things.

[Buckle Up]

Originally Posted by FloridaGirl

Yep. I have even seen docs that "believe" this. Well, they realize one has nothing to do with the other, but there do seem to be more babies born in a full moon. Of course, this could be one of those "choose only to remember what fulfills my own beliefs" type things.

My mom was a nurse and had a colleague tell her that this supposed rise in births was because of the moon's pull on water, including amniotic fluid. As for the cleft palate, I have no idea what an even folkloric or theoretical explanation might be.

[Nick Theodorakis]

"Human births and the phase of the moon." Abell GO, Greenspan B. N Engl J Med. 1979 Jan 11;300(2):96.

Abstract:

Published studies on the frequency of births as related to the lunar cycle are inconsistent with each other. The distribution of all births during 51 lunar cycles, from March 17, 1974, to April 30, 1978, was analyzed by the authors at the University of California, Los Angeles, Hospital. There were 11,691 live births, of which 8142 were natural, 141 multiple, and 168 stillbirths. In none of the 4 samples was the mean number of births occurring on the date of the full moon above average, showing that the birthrate during the period surveyed did not in any way correlate with the cycle of lunar phases

[stalker]

Originally Posted by FloridaGirl

Yep. I have even seen docs that "believe" this. Well, they realize one has nothing to do with the other, but there do seem to be more babies born in a full moon. Of course, this could be one of those "choose only to remember what fulfills my own beliefs" type things.

Seeing as the gestation period is pretty close to exactly 10 lunar months, my theory is that the full moon helps people see what they're doing even when they have the lights out.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by mouse goddess

Has anyone heard anything about lunar eclipses affecting pregnancies...such as starting labor, or giving the baby a cleft palate?

Why in the world would a lunar eclipse have anything to do with a birth defect?

Seaboe

[mouse goddess]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

Why in the world would a lunar eclipse have anything to do with a birth defect?

Seaboe

I'm asking on behalf of a friend, who said that she read it somewhere, but can't remember where.

She also half remembers a genetics class in school where the prof was talking about some indiginous tribe in South America believing that a recent solar eclipse had led to a rise in cleft palates.

Of course it shouldn't have an effect, I was just asking if anyone had heard that before.

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

Why in the world would a lunar eclipse have anything to do with a birth defect?

Seaboe

Some birth defects are genetic and they are of course already in the genes at the moment of conception.
Birth defects, which are caused during pregnancy, happen within the first trimester. After that time the baby and his organs are pretty much all there, so external forces (contact with chemical, medication, rubella etc) cannot deform them, although some can cause harm. I would be very unlikely that eclipse could cause any sort of birth defect.

Originally Posted by mouse goddess

Has anyone heard anything about lunar eclipses affecting pregnancies...such as starting labor, or giving the baby a cleft palate?

At the Miami midwifery clinic they seem to take it as read that a full moon signifies a lot of births, but that doesn't make any sense to me, and I thought it was established that that's just what they blame it on when the moon happens to be full. Can't see how a birth defect could be caused by the moon, but I guess some people think it is.