Waiting a Few Extra Weeks to Deliver Makes Baby Smarter
Getty / The Bump
We know that babies born pre-term might be at risk for developmental problems, but now new research shows that babies born just two weeks early could have problems too. The study published in Pediatrics, “Academic Achievement Varies With Gestational Age Among Children Born at Term,” showed that full-term babies do better on math and reading tests.
Researchers analyzed over 128,000 babies born between 37 and 41 weeks gestation in New York City in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When the children took their 3rd grade math and reading tests, researchers found that scores for children born at 37 and 38 weeks were lower than the kids born at 39, 40 or 41 weeks. They found that children born at 37 weeks had a 23 percent increased risk of having a reading impairment and children born at 38 weeks had a 13 percent increased risk, as opposed to those born at 41 weeks. Plus, math scores were lower for these children as well.
Experts believe that because baby’s brain has substantial growth during the last weeks of gestation, an early birth can disrupt that development. Of course, most women can’t control when they give birth, so this shouldn’t freak you out too much. But for women who are electing to have c-sections or inductions (and it’s not an emergency), this new research might make them want to wait a few more weeks.
Do you think full-term babies could be smarter? When was your baby born?
Plus, more from The Bump:
Make Baby Smarter Before Birth
The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
My daughter was over a week late, born at 41 weeks and 2 days and at 18 months she can put together 3 words sentences, while some of the 24 month olds in daycare can barely do two word sentences. I think she is pretty smart for her age. This may explain (just a little) why.
My baby was born at 33weeks 2days. i’m not too worried about him because at 4 months, he’s sitting up,eating solids and can entertain himself for up to an hour. He’s quite social and smiles a lot. He makes great eye contact and charms everyone.
My son was born exactly two weeks late, so he should be a genius right?
My daughters due date changed and not just a couple days but like a week difference because i wasn’t sure when i conceived… so that said her due date ended up being Oct. 23rd and she was still born Nov 6th two weeks later! My Son is due on Sep. 16th and we are having a C-section (doctor recommended) but we didn’t want it too early so we are having him on the 10th – only 6 days early so 39 weeks and 1 day. I will have to check it out and see the comparison although other things to consider would be male verse female and also how much time a parent spends with the child. I will spend the same amount of time – but my daughter was in Pre-school last year and was put into the Kindergarten class two days a week for reading class and when she was a year old she could tell you all her colors even off colors like peach etc…. she is a smartie!!!!!!!!
While this may be a factor in development, I think that there are other factors that are greater contributors to a child’s intelligence and rate of development. Factors such as parent IQ, genes, socioeconomic status, time spent with the child reading and working on skill development, etc. All these factors are different in each child and therefore make studies like these somewhat subjective because all things are not equal. While gestational age may be another contributing factor, I am not sure how much of a role it plays after 37 weeks.
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