What to expect when you’re expecting a Christmas Day baby

Julie Suffield - 7 Dec 19

‘So that would make your due date December the 21st! A Christmas baby!’ To be fair having the midwife tell me this wasn’t that much of a shock. Like most mums to be I’d already done the maths. Still, a Christmas baby! Imagine! We didn’t think it would actually happen though, I mean what were the chances?

Turns out ours were pretty high and Miss Beatrice Violet was born on Christmas Day 2013. All babies birthdays are super special, but having a baby on a day of note, whether that’s an internationally recognised date or something more personal is a talking point. Here’s what you may expect if you end up with your very own Christmas Day baby.

1. You’ll feel like Mary. Whatever your religion, whatever your beliefs, waddling round with a humongous baby bump at this time of year, you can’t help but draw comparisons. Maybe it’s all the Nativity Scenes. If you watch British soaps then it will also cross your mind that a good way to ensure that baby arrives on Christmas Day is the make sure that you end up playing Mary in a local nativity.

2. The midwives will be in festive spirit. Bea was a hospital birth and while the day definitely wasn’t a normal Christmas a few things do stick in my mind. Our midwife Sarah wearing tinsel round her neck and me crying because it dropped into the birthing pool. Christmas music being on all the radio stations. My post birth tea and toast being replaced with a turkey butty and Christmas yule log.

3. You’ll feel like you missed out. Yes it was the best Christmas present ever. No I would not wish to exchange it. But still, arriving home on Boxing day, we did sort of feel like we’d missed out. The huge plates of Christmas dinner and gravy in the fridge thanks to our amazing friends helped no end. But we didn’t actually open any present for days. And it took us weeks to catch up on all the Christmas Day telly because we couldn’t stay awake!

4. People will obsess over it and ask you all the questions. What was it like? Did you still have to cook Christmas dinner? How do you do presents? Parties? Singing? I was exactly the same pre Bea.

5. People will feel sorry for you / your baby. I’m sure this is meant well, but ye gads does it irritate me!!!! Please don’t tell her she’s got a rubbish birthday (yes that has happened), please don’t tell us we didn’t plan it well (well duh!). Just say Happy Birthday.

6. You’ll stress about getting it right. There are so many ways in which families do Christmas Day birthdays. Some do half day Christmas, half day birthday. Some so half yearly birthdays in June instead. Some embrace it all on the one day. We tend to do birthday presents, birthday tea and birthday cake on Bea’s due date, just 4 days before Christmas. For us this leaves enough of a gap to make the days different. We still acknowledge that the 25th is her birthday. She may not always like this, and she’s welcome to request something else when she’s older, but for now, this is the way we do it.

I’m happy to say that at this moment Bea adores her Christmas Day birthday. It’s the thing she leads with when meeting new people, it’s the thing she says makes her extra special, and she fully embraces all things festive. She may not always and that’s ok. But this year she certainly does. She’s already requested a half Father Christmas half The Greatest Showman birthday cake so we’ll see how that turns out.

💜

Julie Suffield

Lancashire born Liverpool based mum to two preschoolers. Blogging about motherhood, family life, being a working mum, local interest and mental health.

View profile for posts, events and more info