Boys take longer to cook?

[thebigfam]

So I have been reading another thread and I read that boys take longer to cook. so we have research on this? DD was born 37w 3d I was expecting this one to be somewhat similar. DH also wants an early baby bc of taxes... If this boy is anything like me he will wait till new years day just to get his dad Anyways... so do boys take longer to cook?

Big Momma

[nadia105]

Not for me, I had one before edd and one after.

DD was 39w4d
DS1 was 40w4d
DS2 was 39w3d

[WifeofAnt]

I don't know if they take longer to cook exactly but boys (caucasian ones especially) do worse in NICU than girls of the same gestation. Its referred to as 'wimpy white boy syndrome'.

[AngelKissedKids]

Having had a baby who did NICU time, I know the NICU nurses often referred to some of the babies as "wimpy, white boys" because boys are often not as strong and healthy as their girl counterparts who are born at the same gestation. Not sure what skin colour has to do with it though. Anecdotal but thought I'd share anyway.

[nova22]

I've heard the same thing about boys in the NICU. My friend had her baby boy at 33 weeks and when they were wheeling her off to the delivery room a nurse asked if she knew the sex. When my friend said it was a boy, the nurse said, "Oh, that's too bad. Girls are more likely to survive." Needless to say my friend was not thrilled with that statement but her boy was fine and is now a football-playing teenager.

My personal experience:
#1 DS: born at 39 weeks 6 days
#2 DD: born at 37 weeks (we were unsure of dates, though, so that may be inaccurate)
#3 DD: born at about 41 weeks, 3 days
#4 DS: born at about 43 weeks, and I might add that my water broke 56 hours before he was born...troublemaker!
#5 DD: born at 33 weeks

[lillymonster]

There are 3 boys and 7 girls among my sisters, we all have same sex families, so the sister that had all boys was the only sister to have premature labor.

Oddly, one was 6 weeks early, one was 4 weeks and one was 2 weeks, and 2 were born on the same day and was born 2 days earlier.

The sister that had the premature labor is an identical twin and she was the one that needed to be in NICU when she was born, her other twin did not. I don't know if that is just a coincidence.

[seagull]

My son born at 40w5d had a harder time holding body temp and nursing than my daughter born at 37.

[thankful85]

My daughter was born at 38w2d.
My son was born at 37w1d - he was bigger at 6lb 12 oz. DD was 6lb 4 oz.
I'm expecting another in Feb - my midwife told me to expect this one to follow its siblings and come around 37/38w. Hopefully not any sooner!!

[Ola_]

I was just reading something that referenced this earlier today. The article was saying that part of the reason may be that boys tend to be bigger/longer so ultrasound estimates may put them further in the gestation than they really are. But this was only part of it. I'll see if I can find the link, it had a whole reference section at the end.

[SumnerRain]

DS1 - 41w0d by uncertain conception date... membranes ruptured, labor was slow to start, pit augmented labor around 16 hours in for "failure to progress".
DS2 - 40w2d by certain conception date... evicted by induction, pit labor
DD1 - 40w5d by certain conception date... homebirth, no pit.

So I think I cook all genders longer than 40w, no idea when DS2 would have come if I let him cook longer. I also learned my labors naturally like to stall around 4-6.

[Baby~Braatens~Mama]

Oh, I hope you find that link, it would be an interesting read!

And I hope boys don't take longer!

[Peony]

For me it was certainly true. My boy was #3 for me and took a full two weeks longer to bake then the girls. I thought he was never ever going to come out. Nope, he was just taking his sweet time hanging out and getting nice and fat. The funny thing is that he is 16 months and STILL taking his sweet time to do anything. I was spot on with all dates with all kids, I am not a routine US user so that didn't play into my dates.

[JTA Mom]

When people say boys take longer to 'cook' they don't necessarily mean they gestate longer than their sisters. Like with all things, there's individual variability.

What it DOES mean is that the amount of time for a boy to reach lung maturity is, on average, longer than the amount of time it takes for a girl to reach lung maturity. In terms of who does best in a NICU, it's African American Girls.

Scroll down 3/4 of the page to see some stats:
http://books.google.com/books?id=CT1...20race&f=false

So, in effect, boys take longer to develop in a general sense. Hence why a 37 week induction with a baby boy is, naturally, higher risk than with a girl, since chances are that his lungs are not as mature as they would be if he were female.

As in all things, individual variability matters too. Ds was induced at 37 weeks due to preeclampsia. Once the effects of the magnesium sulfate they had me on wore off, he was breathing just fine on his own. He's 1/4 irish, 1/4 Mexican and 1/2 Greek, if that matters. So technically, he's more than 3/4 white. Yet didn't suffer from 'wimpy white boy' syndrome as it's colloquially termed. I think it's the Spartan in him.

Ami

[Ola_]

Ok, here is the link (it's a PDF):
http://www.aom.on.ca/files/Communica..._July_2010.pdf

Basically it talks about clinical guidelines for Ontario midwives beyond 41 weeks. The part about male vs. female gestation times is on page 6 of the PDF, which is marked as page 4 on the bottom. The research sources are listed at the very bottom. HTH!

[rad]

Originally Posted by WifeofAnt

I don't know if they take longer to cook exactly but boys (caucasian ones especially) do worse in NICU than girls of the same gestation. Its referred to as 'wimpy white boy syndrome'.

I heard this quite alot when my youngest DS was in the NICU. He was born at 36 wks and stayed there for 10 days because his lungs weren't quite ready.

[MamaFern]

This has not been my experience..

DS (baby #1) born 39 weeks + 1 day
DD (baby #2) born 42 weeks +1 day
DD (baby #3) born 42 weeks

[alegna]

Interesting idea...

#1. dd 41 weeks 2 days
#2. ds 43 weeks 5 days

-Angela

[Bokonon]

When I was about to be c-sectioned to have my son at 32w2d, the perinatologist asked "Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?" I said "A boy, confirmed by amnio". He said "Oh - girl preemies do better."

Thanks UAV!

What I've read is that girls mature faster than boys, in the womb and out, and it is theorized that it's because they have 2 X chromosomes instead of one. ?

In any case, my 32-weeker boy spent 6 weeks in the NICU. My 34-weeker girl spent 10 days there.

[myk]

statistically, premature girls fare better than premature boys. this does not, however, mean they're going to be born earlier on average.

[34me]

My dd was born at exactly 40 wks
ds#1 41+4 when he was evicted
ds#2 40+4 when he was evicted and at 10lbs wound up in the NICU

but I have a coworker who had no ultrasounds with any of their 5. If the baby made it past 25 weeks they knew it was a girl