• Question: If a baby’s leg pops out at 11:59 PM but his head doesn’t come out until 12:01, which day was he born on?

    Asked by anon-233423 to Varun, Sammie, Rebecca, Anna, Alin, Adam on 11 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Samantha Firth

      Samantha Firth answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      That’s a great question! I’d like to think that they’d get two birthdays and would be allowed to have a 48 hours of birthday fun every year. And they would get double the cake 👍 However, I have yet to meet someone with two birthdays so I’d say that the parents are allowed to choose which day if the baby is born at exactly midnight ⏰

    • Photo: Rebecca Shaw

      Rebecca Shaw answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      That’s an interesting one! I would say probably when the baby comes out altogether.. but if its born at midnight maybe Samantha is right and the parents get to choose!

    • Photo: Anna Kalorkoti

      Anna Kalorkoti answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      I asked this to a friend of mine who trained as a midwife; here’s what she had to say:

      “ooh that’s an interesting question! I believe it’s the time the head is born that defines the day/time the baby is born. but of course in a breech delivery* they’d also record the time the feet are delivered”

      *(a breech delivery is when a baby is born bottom-first; most babies are born head-first).

      Sammie’s idea of double cake sounds fun though! The queen gets two birthdays, so why can’t everyone?

    • Photo: Varun Ramaswamy

      Varun Ramaswamy answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      Most of the time, the baby pops out head-first. But, if there is a delivery where its legs pop out first, then time of birth is always noted as the moment when the head came out, because you need to wait till you see the head, to check that the baby is alright.

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