[OC] How Common in Your Birthday!

[u/plotset]

[u/place_artist]

Weird hotspot on Valentines Day (Feb 14), which I would have expected to be a common time of conceiving more so than birth.

[u/Just_An_Animal → u/place_artist]

I imagine this includes induced labor. That would also explain the gap around Christmas with before and after being more common - people may be scheduling labor/C-sections for more convenient days. So Valentine’s Day might be a day people want to have their kid be born?

[u/CharonsLittleHelper → u/Just_An_Animal]

people may be scheduling labor/C-sections for more convenient days.

Convenient for the doctor moreso than the mother/baby.

[u/NakatasGoodDump → u/CharonsLittleHelper]

I wish it were just a joke, a doctor in Toronto got caught inducing women to times convenient for him to bill more

https://www.thecut.com/2019/07/paul-shuen-toronto-medical-malpractice.html

[u/LabLife3846 → u/NakatasGoodDump]

As a nurse in the US, I can tell you many decisions are based on being able to bill more.

[u/Possible-Toe2968 → u/LabLife3846]

Hospitals get away from public scrutiny a lot about the cost of healthcare in the US. I wish people would understand that

[u/21Rollie → u/Possible-Toe2968]

I tried to compare costs for urgent care before going to one of two nearby centers, couldn’t see shit other than “this is a full hospital so you might be billed more” at the hospital that was in network. I ended up writing a review for what it cost me after the fact on their Google page so other people can see the cost, because that’s like the only way the general public will get any transparency. Cost me $500 out of pocket after insurance for an ankle sprain to get X-rayd and looked at. No interventions other than an aircast.

[u/TaringaWhakarongo1 → u/NakatasGoodDump]

Literally the medical industry, people with money go first?

[u/ertri → u/CharonsLittleHelper]

If you’re inducing labor, you’re picking the date. Right after Christmas means not being in the hospital for Christmas

[u/TA_readytobedone → u/ertri]

I'm also guessing this is US based on the rarity of July 4th birthdays.

[u/fraze2000 → u/TA_readytobedone]

I definitely think it is northern hemisphere based, as most of the hotspots are from July to December, nine months after the northern hemisphere weather starts to turn colder, when couples are more likely to be at home together rather than being out having fun and returning home too drunk to you-know-what.

[u/divchyna → u/ertri]

It kinda depends on the doctor and the hospital. I've picked my child's bday both times and both times I was given options on what days were available. Both times, the dates I had in mind were denied by the hospital and I had to choose other dates.

[u/The-Hopster → u/divchyna]

"I would like the 6th or 7th of October."

"Ma'am, you're due in July."

[u/smilingbuddhauk → u/The-Hopster]

And this is a Wendy's.

[u/planetarylaw → u/ertri]

You pick a date from a list of dates the hospital offers you.

[u/nervelli → u/ertri]

And before new years means a child tax credit for the whole year.

[u/david-saint-hubbins → u/CharonsLittleHelper]

Yeah my younger sister was born on December 28th via scheduled c-section. Apparently the actual due date was like a week or so later, so when the doctor told my mom that they should schedule it for the 28th, my mom asked why, and the doctor gave some BS answer, so my mom kept at it until the doctor admitted, "Because I'm flying to the Bahamas on the 29th."

[u/ninjacereal → u/david-saint-hubbins]

He got your mom a full year worth of tax deductions AND he got to take some time off? Win win.

[u/its_all_one_electron → u/CharonsLittleHelper]

/shrug my hospital does midwives on rotation, people have babies randomly and can get induced whenever is most medically appropriate.

[u/DonLethargio → u/place_artist]

My guess would be the fact that labour can be induced by having sex

[u/kieranball07 → u/DonLethargio]

The fact that Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, the 13th of each month etc are uncommon tells me it’s more likely that planned c-sections are the reason. People want a valentines baby.

[u/Gcarsk → u/kieranball07]

Not planned c-sections specifically. Just induced labor in general.

But, yeah, otherwise entirely agree that seems likely. Parents don’t want their kids to share a birthday with major holidays, but Valentines Day is specifically about love/relationships, so I’d wager some parents think it would be cute to have them born on that day, instead of the few days before/after. And of course nurses/doctors don’t want to come in on major holidays if unnecessary, so they would schedule around those.

[u/hamo804 → u/Gcarsk]

I’d hate if my birthday were on Valentine’s Day. My friends would have to choose whether to spend the day with their SOs or with me. And all my gifts are likely to be lovey dovey.

[u/V-DaySniper → u/hamo804]

As someone who is a valentines baby I've never had that problem. However everyone assumes you get all kinds of dates because of it and yes you do get lots of holiday specific gifts. Then when you get older and find out how many people despise valentines and then they think you are some weirdo who likes valentines day because you brought in cookies or cupcakes to work and you have to specify its because it's your birthday and then it default back to the 1st thing that everyone thinks you are a player and asks about how many dates you have lined up. It really gets my social anxiety worked up.

[u/DonLethargio → u/DonLethargio]

Also, can confirm that the date of conception would be 27 May. Source: that’s my dad’s birthday and both me and my sister were due on the 14th 💀💀💀

[u/Geofherb → u/DonLethargio]

Lol, one day my son is gonna realize my bday and his bday are 9 months apart.

[u/Rich-Juice2517 → u/Geofherb]

I just came to the realization a week ago that i was probably conceived on the 4th of July

I did not appreciate that realization and still don't

[u/sourwookie → u/Rich-Juice2517]

Skyrockets in flight, Afternoon delight!

[u/_Elder_ → u/Rich-Juice2517]

Same holiday for me. Realization will always be cursed no matter how many years pass.

[u/clauclauclaudia → u/Geofherb]

I was born such a respectable 10 months after my folks got married.

[u/2ndprize → u/clauclauclaudia]

So honeymoon it was

[u/kaysant → u/clauclauclaudia]

My dad was a miracle baby, he was born 3 months after his parents' wedding. Who'd have thought that in 1941 a 6 months premature baby would have survived without any special medical attention?!

[u/Iojpoutn → u/Geofherb]

I would like to go back in time to before I read this comment and did the math for my own birthday.

[u/westbee → u/Geofherb]

Omg!! I just did the math.

My son is about 5 days short of 9 months after my birthday.

[u/Jaded247365 → u/westbee]

Looks like I was born one week early! Mom always said I wasn’t really planned.

[u/ageoflost → u/Geofherb]

Why, why would you make me count months.

[u/StinkypieTicklebum → u/ageoflost]

LPT: instead of counting back, count forward three months.

[u/louriot → u/StinkypieTicklebum]

You just saved me a lot of maths

[u/AthousandLittlePies → u/DonLethargio]

I learned when I was a kid that my younger brother was conceived on my birthday. Not sure why my mom felt the need to tell me that when I was 5.

[u/MidwesternLikeOpe → u/AthousandLittlePies]

My mom told me where my brother was conceived, and it wasn't a classy place. Im forbidden from letting him know, but I wish I didnt know... She told me this as an adult.

It was a gas station bathroom.

[u/digitalgadget → u/AthousandLittlePies]

My dad was named for the place where he was conceived. His parents told him that when he was a kid.

[u/louriot → u/digitalgadget]

Ah yes my Son, gas station bathroom.

[u/digitalgadget → u/louriot]

Public park, but close.

[u/louriot → u/digitalgadget]

Wow growing up with Public Park as a name would be rough. Your poor dad.

[u/marvelmon → u/DonLethargio]

27 May

Right around Memorial Day.

[u/Flimsy_Finger4291 → u/marvelmon]

I mean, what else are you gonna do on that holiday but bone

[u/DonLethargio → u/Flimsy_Finger4291]

More like mammorial day amiright

[u/theamazingjizz → u/DonLethargio]

I'm not happy about it, but take my updoot for creativity. terrible, terrible creativity.

[u/ZapdosShines → u/Flimsy_Finger4291]

BOOOOONE

/Holt

[u/_Cabbage_Corp_ → u/ZapdosShines]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOONE‽‽‽‽

Sincerely,

Captain Raymond Holt

[u/Qulddell → u/marvelmon]

it could be fun to compare this data with another countries to see if Memorial Day is the culprit,

[u/WarmGatito → u/DonLethargio]

Dad got bday sex, twice, ain’t he one lucky son of a gun?

[u/Jester252 → u/DonLethargio]

That's a fun game to play.

Look 3 months ahead of your birthday and see why your parents had sex.

[u/No-Insect-2557 → u/Jester252]

Google doesn't know what day ladies night was on 45 years ago

[u/Swimming_Badger760 → u/DonLethargio]

I wonder if the data visualized here shifts in predictable waves as the babies become men who conceive babies on their own birthdays

[u/BBOoff → u/Swimming_Badger760]

Possibly, but I assume that will get swamped by the larger trend visible here: People tend to have more sex during winter (because it is less pleasant to be outside in the cold and it gets darker sooner), and so lots of kids are born in late summer/early fall.

[u/This_Charmless_Man → u/BBOoff]

And they say humans don't have a mating season

[u/me1702 → u/DonLethargio]

True, but labour* takes time, and it can be several days; and sex (I’m told) usually happens at night. So you’d expect a peak in the days after, which doesn’t really happen. 15th is still a bit above average, but the days that follow are back to being well below average.

I’d wager on it being a popular day for planned Caesarean deliveries. Valentines baby and all that.

EDIT: I worded this badly and wrongly. I probably should have written "establishing* labour takes time". Labour does not and should not take days, but inducing labour can take a while, and it can be days from attempts to establish labour to delivery.

[u/Ask_Who_Owes_Me_Gold → u/me1702]

Labor lasting several days is very, very unusual. 32 hours from start to birth is the upper end of what would be considered typical, and most would be under 24 hours.

[u/CharonsLittleHelper → u/Ask_Who_Owes_Me_Gold]

And most of that isn't what is most non-parents think of as "labor".

[u/me1702 → u/Ask_Who_Owes_Me_Gold]

Sorry, to clarify:

Yes, labour itself doesn't and shouldn't take days. But induction of labour is a process that takes longer than that. It's not a case of going from nothing to labour in the time it takes to have sex. It takes time for labour to establish.

If it was simply people having sex on Valentine's Day, the spike in births would actually be 15th-17th.

[u/bozitybozitybopzebop → u/place_artist]

Based on September, Happy New Year sex is more common than Valentine's.

[u/solemn_penguin → u/bozitybozitybopzebop]

I would say that time of year in general, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My daughter was conceived in December. She was born Sept 2nd. Mine is Sept 25th. My parents were getting it on around the holidays

[u/FinndBors → u/solemn_penguin]

Cold nights?

[u/NotEnoughWave → u/place_artist]

That would be the small spike on november 14

[u/aisirc → u/NotEnoughWave]

fun fact: conception on 2/14 would actually suggest birth around 11/7 https://americanpregnancy.org/resources/pregnancy-calculator/?conception=2023-02-14

[u/Ok_Ad8609 → u/place_artist]

Came here to say this! But now seeing that the conception date is late May, that kinda makes sense. I also wonder if some women are purposefully scheduling the delivery for this day for some reason. My very superficial cousin has three kids, and she pre-scheduled all of their C-section deliveries so she could choose the birthdays.

[u/tommytornado]

This graphic looks like there's a lot of variation, but there isn't really. These are the actual figures in a heatmap...

https://imgur.com/gallery/WFST3B9

[u/BreakfastsforDinners → u/tommytornado]

Thanks for sharing this. I was curious how many years of data were used in this, and this confirms my hypothesis that the dataset is too small. I noticed that there is a weekly pattern in most of the months (ex: April 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th) and when I checked, these are the only dates that had 3 weekend dates in the period from 2000-2014. All other dates have 4 or 5 weekend dates (Induced deliveries/C sections are usually not scheduled on weekends).

I mean the dataset and analysis is fine if you're born in those years, but if you want an idea of the population as a whole, this is not enough data (and is certainly misleading if not explained with the data). OR we could normalize for this day-of-week inconsistency.

[u/Higgins1st → u/BreakfastsforDinners]

I was confused too.

My even smaller data set has my birthday being very rare and December 25th being common.

[u/aussie_punmaster → u/Higgins1st]

My even even smaller dataset has my birthday being most common, and no other days with birthdays.

[u/ChrisGnam → u/tommytornado]

Honestly this is way more variation than I was expecting! Christmas has half as many births as 9/12. I was expecting the max variation to be only a few percent.

The time spans like mid January that are totally stable really highlight how weird the standout days are. Which is neat!

[u/Denk-doch-mal-meta → u/ChrisGnam]

But Christmas is an outlier based on planned C-sections. Variation is more from 10 to 12.7. Still not that small for a random dataset. But as someone mentioned, 15 years are not enough valid for this.

[u/InEnduringGrowStrong → u/tommytornado]

This one is actually readable too.

[u/erection_detection_ → u/tommytornado]

This is usa births only. OP doesn't say if it's world wide.

[u/tommytornado → u/erection_detection_]

OP doesn't say if it's world wide.

OP said:

This data represents 4,153,303 US-born babies only between 2000 and 2014.

Top 10 Most Common: Sep 12 (0.307%) Sep 19 (0.306%), Sep 20 (0.302%), Dec 19 (0.300%), Sep 10 (0.300%), Dec 20 (0.299%),Sep 18 (0.299%), Aug 8 (0.299%), Sep 26 (0.299%), Sep 17 (0.298%)

Top 10 Least Common: Dec 25 (0.155%), Jan 1 (0.186%), Dec 24 (0.193%), Jul 4 (0.212%), Jan 2 (0.231%), Dec 26 (0.238%), Nov 23 (0.238%), Nov 25 (0.240%), Nov 27 (0.241%), Nov 24 (0.241%)

Data Source: Kaggle.com/datasets/ayessa/birthday

[u/erection_detection_ → u/tommytornado]

Thanks. You're right. I expected some sort of indication in the title of the post that it was US only

[u/tommytornado → u/erection_detection_]

I agree with you, it would have made sense. However, OP also said, "How common IN your Birthday!". So there's that.

[u/amatulic]

Looks like there are a lot of "Christmas gifts" being born 9 months after the Winter holidays!

(I was one of them)

[u/Kuningas_Arthur → u/amatulic]

I was born early September 1991.

My mom and dad got married late December 1990.

I have my theories.

[u/ShelfordPrefect → u/Kuningas_Arthur]

"The first baby can come at any time; after that they take nine months"

[u/IncaThink → u/ShelfordPrefect]

Me, looking at my parents wedding photo: "Hey! I'm in that picture!"

My mother: "Yes you are, you little smart ass."

[u/hyper_forest → u/IncaThink]

Little bastard, even

[u/biggles1994 → u/IncaThink]

My wife has been to three weddings in her life and she was pregnant at all of them.

She was pregnant with our first child at her sisters wedding. With our second child at our own wedding, and with our third child at her brothers wedding.

We’re due to attend another wedding in October 😬

[u/Laney20 → u/Kuningas_Arthur]

I once, completely innocently, asked my mom how long after they moved into the house was I born. I'd always known it was about the same time, but wasn't sure on the exact timing of everything.

She said, very quickly, "9 months".

Sigh... At least I don't have to wonder?

[u/lividimp → u/Laney20]

Got to christen the new place. It's an important tradition.

[u/THE__V → u/lividimp]

New king sized bed = our second son.

[u/delorf → u/lividimp]

You got to break in the new house.

[u/mikeysgotrabies → u/amatulic]

I used to work with an old man in California. Whenever it would rain he would say "it's baby making weather". This chart proves he was correct. 9 months after the rainy season are the hot spots.

[u/TemplesOfSyrinx → u/mikeysgotrabies]

Wouldn't the rainy season vary depending on what part of the world you're from? The rainy season in India and China is kind of around June/July, so wouldn't that mean there would be more births in March/April?

Or, perhaps this is just US or European data.

Edit: Yes, a post lower down suggests that this is US data. I think you're right.

[u/mikeysgotrabies → u/TemplesOfSyrinx]

Yeah it must be US data. The guy who said this was from the Philippines. I imagine their chart would look different.

[u/enemy_of_your_enema → u/mikeysgotrabies]

But the rainy season is different in different places and this chart is likely based on data from lots of different places.

[u/ShelfordPrefect → u/enemy_of_your_enema]

Judging by the massive downtick on the 4th of July and in late November I'd guess it's based on data from the USA

[u/SonOfAvicii → u/ShelfordPrefect]

Agreed

The stark avoidance of September 11 as a delivery date tells me this is U.S. data from sometime within the last 20 years. There was no such reason to shun that date before 2001.

The cause of few births on "happy" holidays on the other hand, is tied to doctors and medical staff taking the day off, not usually mothers consciously avoiding delivery on these dates.

[u/MyWomanlyInterior → u/SonOfAvicii]

How quickly we forget the Chilean coup of 1973.

[u/dubdubdub3 → u/SonOfAvicii]

Yup. Nobody schedules a C-section on a holiday. They usually do it right before or right after

[u/alles_en_niets → u/ShelfordPrefect]

Also, scheduled deliveries. The US data will show a stronger pattern of scheduled dates as a result of the high number of caesarean deliveries.

[u/fewlaminashyofaspine → u/[deleted]]

I was two weeks late, and 40 + 2 comes out to...my dad's birthday.

[u/pizzaboy7269 → u/amatulic]

I’m the opposite. Born Dec 25

[u/goody82 → u/amatulic]

OBGYN in El Paso told me that people specifically wanted Christmas babies. Noticing on this chart that there is a big blue area there. Makes me think hospital staff was willing to induce before the holidays, but avoiding that on the holidays themselves.

[u/vtTownie]

So are people holding out on sept 11 and having their kid on sept 12?

[u/cixzejy → u/vtTownie]

Yeah people actually do. When I was born apparently there were women crying after finding out thier kid would be born on 9/11

[u/vtTownie → u/cixzejy]

That’s wild. I was born in 9/11 but before 2001 (go dox me with this info I guess) and I’ve never had it be a like weird or bad thing, just an “oh interesting” thing.

[u/oatmealparty → u/vtTownie]

There are only four birthdays I ever remember: my wife, my daughter, my mother and my friend who was born on September 11th. Never forget.

[u/powerlesshero111 → u/vtTownie]

I knew someone born on 9/11. She was very upset that the twin towers coming down took away from her birthday every year since 2001. But she was super selfish and a pretty big bitch all the time too.

[u/Scoot_AG → u/powerlesshero111]

Idk I wouldn't find it selfish to be upset that your birthday is ruined for the rest of your life, no matter the reason

[u/BadMoonRosin → u/Scoot_AG]

Ehh. We're already at the point where nearly all university students weren't even alive on 9/11. I don't see any of the "Never Forget" meme posts on the anniversary anymore like I used to. Like it or not, it's sliding into history now.

Did any baby boomers have their birthdays "ruined for life", by being born on the Pear Harbor anniversary? "Day that will live in infamy!", lol... I couldn't even tell you which day that was without checking Wikipedia.

[u/delorf → u/BadMoonRosin]

Dec 7 is Pearl Harbor Day. I know because that's my best friend's birthday. She isn't a boomer so it didn't impact her enjoyment of the day.

[u/KuriousKhemicals → u/BadMoonRosin]

December 7th 1941!

... I shouted this out for a trivia game just 2 weeks ago. My grandparents were in diapers at that time so I'm somewhat proud.

[u/d_d_d_o_o_o_b_b_b → u/Scoot_AG]

Selfish or not, it’s easy to forget that from 2001 to around 2007, 9/11 really dominated social consciousness in that era. It was such a shock. It was the reason for so much legislation, multiple wars, and it took them forever to figure out what the hell to even do with the site. It was a smoldering hole for a long long time. It wasn’t until Obama came along, and the 2008 financial crisis hit that the national focus finally shifted to something else. Then after they got Bin Laden it finally started to recede into the rear view mirror. I also knew someone with a 9/11 birthday and I felt bad for her for years. 9/11 anniversaries were strange and sad in those days.

[u/Dangerous-Calendar41 → u/cixzejy]

Lil twin tower birthday cakes with sparkler candles! :D

[u/stoneman9284 → u/vtTownie]

Our doctor gave us like a 4-5 day range and asked when we wanted to do the c-section so a lot of these (9/11 or 2/14) may be a result of that too

[u/RealMoonBoy → u/stoneman9284]

Inductions too. My wife had still not delivered after 41 weeks, so we had a last-minute induction scheduled in early September. Everything was booked except the evening of September 10th lol. Jokes on them though, the labor was 30 hours.

[u/boozername → u/vtTownie]

Never forget... your kid's birthday!

[u/Truth_Autonomy → u/vtTownie]

Either holding out on the 11th or pushing hard on the 10th it seems.

[u/charrcheese]

I once put my birthday in a date of conception calculator and it suggested one day after my dads birthday. So I assume I was a birthday present.

[u/Mundane-Student7037 → u/charrcheese]

My due date was exactly 9 months after my Dad's birthday.

[u/irrota → u/Mundane-Student7037]

Just realised that I was born exactly 9 months after my mom's birthday.

[u/DramaticStatement431 → u/Mundane-Student7037]

I started to laugh, then remembered I was supposed to be due a month and a half later than I was born… so doing the math puts me, well, dad’s bday! Good grief.

[u/nemom]

I'm guessing Feb 29 is the least common.

[u/Kraz_I → u/nemom]

OP mentioned the actual rates in a post which vary from 0.307% born on Sep 12th to 0.155% on Dec 25th. You'd expect Feb 29th to be at least 1/4 as rare as other dates, which suggests to me they multiplied it by 4.

[u/Chief-Drinking-Bear → u/Kraz_I]

Would be kind of an odd choice to multiply it by 4. Not only brings the total over 100 but there is also no logical reason to multiply it by 4 except to make the spread of the colors tighter

[u/314159265358979326 → u/Chief-Drinking-Bear]

Removing outliers in data is pretty common.

[u/halberdierbowman → u/Chief-Drinking-Bear]

I disagree. I'd read the graph as showing how likely a birth is in any particular hour of the year. So if it's Feb 29th, then how likely is a birth during this hour? The time period of Feb 29 is "smaller", hence multiplying the number by ~4 would make the colors match all the other days. Otherwise there's no way to compare one hour to another.

The graph isn't showing "how likely does a day exist on a calendar," so the data should be normalized to how common that day is. Otherwise we'll just get a very prominent Feb 29 that's distracting and doesn't tell us anything we don't already know.

[u/avec_serif → u/nemom]

I just grabbed the data and calculated that only 0.067% of all births happened on Feb 29th, with Dec 25 being the second-least common at 0.155%.

[u/Glittering-Jello-935]

It appears people do a lot of fucking when it's cold out

[u/Error83_NoUserName → u/Glittering-Jello-935]

And hold in their babies on 9/11 😅

[u/ItsyouNOme → u/Error83_NoUserName]

Can't have 2 disasters share the same day!

[u/Bezude → u/Glittering-Jello-935]

IMO it's less to do with the cold and more to do with the fact that Thanksgiving and Christmas cause people to think about family. Thinking about family makes some people want to add to their family.

[u/BroDudeBruhMan]

Fun fact for all you fellow July 17th’ers: the calendar emoji is our birthday 📅

[u/vanilla_disco → u/BroDudeBruhMan]

Oh sick, i never noticed.

[u/Riccovic]

Winter is for making babies

[u/Drach88 → u/Riccovic]

It's business time.

[u/pedanticPandaPoo → u/Drach88]

🎵 Ohh girl tonight we're gonna make love

You know how I know? Because it's Wednesday 🎵

[u/jeezy_peezy → u/pedanticPandaPoo]

Got my business socks on

[u/Junior_Fig_2274 → u/jeezy_peezy]

That’s why they call it business socks

[u/Lambamham → u/Riccovic]

I’d like to see this data for the southern hemisphere.

[u/cr1zzl → u/Lambamham]

This is what I was thinking, make two charts side by side.

[u/lemonickous]

Is July a very unsexy month?

[u/dba1990 → u/lemonickous]

My theory is that (despite being the season of bikinis, flip-flops and other semi-nude beach clothing) not a lot of couples want to mate during heat waves. But there are exceptions to this rule.

Source; I’m one of them as an April birth.

[u/Mapleleafguy83 → u/dba1990]

Oh god your comment made me just realize that I (April bday) was probably conceived on my parents anniversary (in July)...

[u/ItsyouNOme → u/Mapleleafguy83]

Eww your parents DID IT!

[u/TheWayOfEli]

December 25th is very rare. I don't know why Jesus is so weird about sharing his birthday with people.

[u/markojoke → u/TheWayOfEli]

I think it's because the appointment for a C-section can be moved by a few days and hospitals avoid Christmas days. Therefore more before and after the holidays.

[u/Leather_Dragonfly529 → u/markojoke]

Reminds me of the sorry that more babies are born between 9am-5pm now than ever because doctors choose to induce earlier than to get called in at nature’s timing.

[u/imdethisforyou → u/Leather_Dragonfly529]

Not just doctors, but parents too.

Some prefer to schedule it in advance so they can plan around it.

[u/Illeazar → u/Leather_Dragonfly529]

Yeah, even with 100% normal/healthy pregnancies, doctors will often schedule the birth to happen during work hours just for the convenience.

[u/Chayoss → u/Illeazar]

And safety! Better to have the full suite of daytime radiologists, surgeons, intensivists, anaesthetists, etc already in hospital and around for an emergency than have to chance it at 2am.

[u/lmkwe → u/Chayoss]

I was an emergency c-section just after midnight the day after a major holiday. Luckily I made it

[u/pm_me_ur_th0ng_gurl → u/Chayoss]

I'm just thinking about how 100 years ago childbirth was like a 10% mortality rate, but now we are able to schedule it in advance.

[u/buckzor122 → u/markojoke]

Not just c-sections, but inductions for natural birthing too. My son was born on 23rd of December because of the same reason, he was due on like 19th so the doctors suggested to induce to avoid giving birth on Christmas.

[u/vegastar7 → u/TheWayOfEli]

It would suck to be born on the 25th: you’d probably grow up getting one present that serve both as Christmas and Birthday presents. Not to mention that you’re competing with Jesus and Santa for attention. I know someone who was born on December 27, and even then, it was a struggle to not get overshadowed by the holidays.

[u/Royal-Description138 → u/vegastar7]

25th baby here. I can confirm the present thing., not to mention having a party any time around this period is hard, my birthday is mostly forgotten, even by my parents. I tried to make it Dec 1st for awhile but it really carries a not my "real" birthday type vibe for people.

[u/beef_is_here → u/Royal-Description138]

Yeah, it’s impossible to have a birthday party. I even tried a “birthday in July” party, but like you said it’s just not the same. My parents always went out of their way to make Christmas and my birthday two separate events though. Christmas was in the morning, and then my birthday would be after dinner.

As I got older I just basically ignore my birthday, and now that I have kids I just focus on Christmas.

[u/Pale_Cartographer960 → u/vegastar7]

I was born on the 26th. I never threw a birthday party as a kid because all my friends had no time

[u/Derpsteppin → u/vegastar7]

Christmas birthday here, the present thing is absolutely true. Growing up, I was always pretty annoyed at the whole thing. It always felt so unfair getting overshadowed by Christmas. As mentioned by others, one of the hardest things is trying to actually plan and have a birthday party. Obviously my whole family would get together for Christmas so that would serve as my birthday party each year, but I can only recall a small handful of times that my parents ever had an actual birthday party for me, attended by my friends. And even on those few occasions, it always had to be a few weeks before or after Christmas because of how busy people usually are with family plans around the holidays.

It made me pretty bitter about my birthday all the way until I became an adult and had a complete change in the way I view my birthday. For context, my extended family is very large, and so is my wife's. Between grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and siblings, there are typically 3 or 4 birthday parties A MONTH, many times celebrating more than one birthday at a time. With so many parties, and family spread across a couple states, obviously everyone can't make it to every single birthday party.

Except mine.

It took me way too long to realize how special it is that on MY birthday, EVERYONE gets together. I get to see each and every one of my family members, some for the first time since the previous year, especially if they live farther away. Between my mom's side, my dad's side, and both sides of my wife's family, Christmas Eve and Christmas are usually a nonstop marathon of Christmas parties and as exhausting as it can get, I now absolutely cherish the opportunity to spend that time with everyone.

In addition, trying to plan things as an adult and realizing how busy people's schedules are around that time of the year made me extremely thankful that my parents were able to put together even just a small handful of birthday parties for my friends to attend when I was a kid. And because I now fully understand how hard it is to plan stuff around Christmas, I'm now completely fine with celebrating with some of my friends, no matter the exact date. It doesn't feel any less special if it's not ON my actual birthday. It sounds cliche, but it really is the thought that counts.

To end on a wholesome story and likely the exact moment my attitude towards my birthday changed was a few years ago when I must have mentioned to my wife (girlfriend at the time) about how I didn't really enjoy Christmas because my birthday seems to always just be a second thought. Well, Christmas arrived, and we headed over to her grandparents' house where the entire family was getting together. She made sure we were the last to arrive and when we did, before there was any mention of Christmas this or Christmas that, they turned off the lights as we walked in, and brought out a giant birthday cake and sang me happy birthday. I, a grown man, literally cried.

[u/why_not_fandy → u/TheWayOfEli]

Is it just me or is a Christmas Eve baby less common in this viz than a leap year baby?

[u/calvinball14]

hi! what is the scale here? is purple 5% more common than blue? 0.5%?

also interesting that dec 31 and jan 1 aren't common, with the tax break and all.

[u/[deleted] → u/calvinball14]

Maybe the numbers will skew next year now that you've pointed out the loophole 🤣

[u/calvinball14 → u/[deleted]]

it's been at least 8 years since I delivered a baby, but IIRC, the government lets a Jan 1 baby "count" toward the previous year - presumably to prevent hasty inductions.

of course, I just say, wouldn't this just move the same incentive/risk to 24 hours later? or maybe it takes the edge off that number due to confusion and other motivations.

[u/ToddlerOlympian → u/calvinball14]

December 31st and New Years Day are uncommon because doctors schedule an induction beforehand so they can have the holiday. Notice the brightness of the week prior to those dates.

[u/a_n_d_r_e_]

It's scary how many people choose Valentine day for their baby (it's not by chance, clearly, but cesarean and induced deliveries).

[u/a_n_d_r_e_ → u/a_n_d_r_e_]

Same, but reverse, on Christmas. 'Too many' the days right after it, while on Christmas day there are only few.

[u/3McChickens → u/a_n_d_r_e_]

I would guess scheduling c-sections around holidays. From my experience, they want to get patients out of hospital for holiday and my daughter was pulled forward a few days to make sure we were heading home by Christmas.

[u/mikevago → u/3McChickens]

My niece's birthday is 12/23 because my sister-in-law's doctor didn't want to work on Christmas so she did the c-section early. I imagine that's a pretty common thing.

[u/Stelus42]

Not that its unexpected, but I do find it funny that all of September is so strong, except for the sudden dip on the 11th.

[u/abrams666]

Can you please make a heatmap where the 40 weeks before are heated ?

[u/Zac_1244]

As someone who is colourblind, I have no clue what I am looking at lol.

[u/fuckmyboringlife]

There's no way that 12/25 is a less common birthday than 2/29

[u/calvinball14 → u/fuckmyboringlife]

I wonder if it's normalized

[u/NarcissusLovesEcho]

A lot of scheduled deliveries right before and after Christmas.

[u/Peldor-2 → u/NarcissusLovesEcho]

You get a nice tax deduction for the year if you get that baby out before the new year rolls around. A fair number of people get induced just for that reason.

[u/bicycle_mice → u/Peldor-2]

I’m due 12/27 and will def be inducing to get baby out before the year end.

[u/underlander]

I don’t understand the decision to use a divergent color scheme. There’s a value that goes from 0 up. Having a diverging color scheme would make sense if there were, like, negative births or something. And I’m not sure why the units aren’t labeled. What’s the scale here?

[u/myyeastisrising]

Ayy you posted this on my birthday!

[u/plotset → u/myyeastisrising]

Happy Birthday to you! 🎉🎂🎈

[u/Grey_Lion]

Where? Global? Us? Europe????

[u/Cosmic_Colin → u/Grey_Lion]

Definitely USA only. There's a Thanksgiving effect, which other countries don't celebrate.

[u/plotset]

This data represents 4,153,303 US-born babies only between 2000 and 2014.

Top 10 Most Common: Sep 12 (0.307%) Sep 19 (0.306%), Sep 20 (0.302%), Dec 19 (0.300%), Sep 10 (0.300%), Dec 20 (0.299%),Sep 18 (0.299%), Aug 8 (0.299%), Sep 26 (0.299%), Sep 17 (0.298%)

Top 10 Least Common: Dec 25 (0.155%), Jan 1 (0.186%), Dec 24 (0.193%), Jul 4 (0.212%), Jan 2 (0.231%), Dec 26 (0.238%), Nov 23 (0.238%), Nov 25 (0.240%), Nov 27 (0.241%), Nov 24 (0.241%)

Data Source: Kaggle.com/datasets/ayessa/birthday

Tools: PlotSet.com

[u/SirJelly → u/plotset]

What is the actual difference between the most and least common day? Your legend could use numeric labels.

I can't imagine it's a huge variance.

[u/peacefinder → u/SirJelly]

100/365.25 = 0.274.

The highest value is only 12% over the average rate.

The lowest value though is only 57% of average. That’s a bit bonkers.

[u/Pschobbert → u/plotset]

This information would be more helpful if it was included in the graphic itself.

[u/goin-up-the-country → u/Pschobbert]

I hate when it doesn't say in the title or graphic that it's US data.

[u/-Igg- → u/plotset]

Since this is US data, do you think there might be differences in a southern hemisphere dataset (due to the seasons are inverted winter<->summer) ?

[u/Casartelli → u/-Igg-]

Ive created this analysis for a different country (still northern hemisphere) and posted it here couple years ago. But the dates are quite different compared to the US.

Birthdays in the Netherlands

[u/-Igg- → u/Casartelli]

Thanks! good insight

So Op's dataset seem to be then US only since there are multiple factors (holidays, seasons, culture, etc) that can affect these results. I wonder if Canada/Mexico results look similar

[u/avec_serif → u/plotset]

I just grabbed the data and calculated that only 0.067% of births happened on Feb 29. Why not mention this as the least common day?

[u/DM_ME_PICS_OF_UR_D0G → u/plotset]

I feel weird that me as a baby is included in this data lol.

[u/ballrus_walsack]

Weird 4th of July less common birthday… is this data USA only?

[u/InsaneKnot → u/ballrus_walsack]

Yeah, it’s US only.

OPs comment related to data

[u/get_the_reference_]

When the weather's hot and sticky

That's no time for dunkin dickie

When the frost is on the pumpkin

That's the time for dickie dunkin

[u/Logesterator]

So statistically, most parents fail NNN

[u/LupusDeusMagnus]

Data from where? Which country?

[u/TelMotor]

No one was born on Feb 30th.. interesting

[u/werfw → u/TelMotor]

Well, the chart only covers 2000 to 2014 in the US, so the Swedish people born in 1712 are just out of luck.

[u/Silver5comet]

What’s up with July 13 and Dec 12? All the superstitious 13ths are a bit lower than the surrounding days but July is a big outlier. 7/13 weird combo of lucky and unlucky? And is 12/12 really a spike just cause it’s a double number?

[u/forthefunofit1]

Where are the data from? USA?

[u/vendorsfan1]

Looks like the 13th is (relatively) rare across the board, probably due to superstition. Anyone have a theory on the December 12th hot spot?

[u/[deleted]]

Interesting how Jan 29th is almost as uncommon as Feb 29th