A Study Reveals Why the Majority of Babies Are Born at Night

Many families may have a story of a baby that was born minutes after their parents’ heroic drive to the hospital in the middle of the night. Based on these stories, it’s easy to imagine that babies decide to see the world when we’re the least prepared, that is, at night.

Here at Bright Side, we wondered if scientists had an answer to why every now and then, parents are blessed with a baby who decides to show up when it’s dark outside. And in the bonus section, you’ll reveal the day of the week that is the most popular for babies to arrive.

It all comes from the epoch of caves and mammoths.

There may be an evolutionary reason why our babies are born at night. It might have been safer for our ancestors to give birth at night when other people from their tribes gathered together and could give the new mom more protection and assistance. Nighttime might have been a safer time to give birth without being scared of predators.

A mom’s body also has a way of dealing with this.

Hormones play a very large role in why babies want to see the world at night. Melatonin, that tricky hormone that helps lull us into a blessed sleep, also helps to start labor. It can sometimes be very difficult to fall asleep for a pregnant woman, but the quantity of melatonin rises by the end of pregnancy. This hormone makes contractions stronger when coupled with the birth hormone, oxytocin.

The way a woman delivers her baby is also in the game.

According to researchers, the majority of US babies are born between 1 A.M. and 7 A.M. And many babies are born at 8:00 A.M., this is the most common minute to be born.

Scientists have an explanation for this rule. Babies who are born naturally, without intervention, see the world during a night/day pattern. The babies, who are born by C-section, are most often born in the morning and there’re very few births by C-section at night.

Bonus: There’s a most popular day of the week when the majority of babies are born.

According to studies, the majority of babies in the US are born on a typical Tuesday compared with the least number on a typical Sunday. What is even more surprising, births on Saturday and Sunday are more likely to happen in the late evening and early morning hours than births on Monday through Friday.

What was the time and day when your baby was born? What is the most thrilling story in your family related to the birth of a baby?