Coronavirus baby boom hasn’t happened yet, but could be coming

Historically there have been “baby booms” after events that cause people to stay in their houses for long periods of time.

Looking at birth rates following natural disasters, blackouts and other events, the rate over the same time frame a year before in those areas jumps from 5% to 30%, on average.

According to doctors from both Beaumont Health and Henry Ford Health System, the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 being detected in Michigan hasn’t resulted in a similar rise.

“Historically, during holidays and other events that keep people at home, we see an increase in the birth rate nine to 10 months later,” said Dr. Amy Whitten, maternal fetal medicine specialist for Beaumont Health. “National predictions that there would be a baby boom one year after the pandemic started never came to pass.”

Statewide births at Beaumont facilities are down about 4% over this time one year ago, according to Dr. Ray Bahado-Singh, Beaumont’s lead OB-GYN.

The rates at some hospitals are up though, he said, singling out Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, which saw a 1.9% increase over the last 12 months.

Henry Ford Health System saw similar numbers, with 23 less births in 2020 than 2019 at its Wyandotte hospital, and so far in 2021, similar numbers each month compared to the same month last year.

For the time period starting nine months after the pandemic, which caused shutdowns and people mostly staying in their houses, births were down about 14% statewide at Henry Ford facilities.

Dr. Christa Norlander, an OB-GYN for Henry Ford, said that is to be expected when looking at the reason people were staying at home.

“Typically you’d think there would be a boom,” she said. “People working from home have more time to have sex, and that would cause pregnancies. This pandemic was different though. People were worried about losing jobs, and we didn’t know how the virus would affect people early on. They were told to try to avoid getting sick and making nonvital trips to seek medical attention.”

Norlander said those factors likely played a role in couples choosing not to have a child, even if they had been trying pre-pandemic.

“In talking with my patients, I know there was a lot of anxiety with that,” she said. “They didn’t want to make trips into the hospital. I look back on things and see there was a lot of social and emotional stress, too.”

Shelter in place

On top of financial stress and the unknowingness of the virus, couples who already had a child had to take on a larger role in their care, as well, Norlander said.

“After doing their own jobs, or sometimes before, parents had to deal with learning how to set up virtual learning and taking a greater part in their children’s education,” she said. “Overall that creates a lot of stress between couples.”

She said that despite being “at home,” couples in those situations likely had less time to be intimate.

“I know that that played a big role in things, as well,” Norlander said. “People are always talking about how hard it is to connect with their partner during that time. A lot of the desire to connect has to do with the social stressors in your life.”

Whitten agreed.

“This is just speculation on my part as to why things may be unfolding this way, (but) I wonder if women who were thinking about expanding their families held off during the first part of the pandemic due to so much uncertainty, including economic,” she said.

Health issues

Part of the reason for a drop in births could be specifically due to weight gain during the pandemic, Norlander said. She said that’s a bit of a trend with patients struggling to regain a healthier lifestyle before they can conceive.

“There’s a pretty big percentage of patients who struggle with ovulation when they are having issues conceiving,” she said.

According to Norlander, weight gain triggers a metabolic issue that also can cause raised blood pressure and diabetes, which all affect the ability to conceive.

“Some of these patients have gained a little extra weight while at home,” she said. “That can change ovulation cycles.“

A less healthy lifestyle, being more sedentary and the closure of gyms for several months were all key factors in the general weight gain of the people she’s seen, Norlander said.

Boom on the horizon?

Experts from both health systems said they are expecting a baby boom to occur, just a bit later than the initial nine-month projection from the onset of COVID-19.

“Many of the OB practices are very busy right now with prenatal patients,” Whitten said. “Time will tell if this translates into an actual increase in births. I suspect that a coronavirus baby boom may happen, just a little later than expected. As the infection numbers decrease and the vaccines started rolling out, that may have sparked some optimism.”

Norlander also said she is seeing a boom in pregnant patients.

“People are more comfortable now,” she said. “They aren’t as fearful as they were six months ago.”

She said she is expecting a large bump in births in March and April over the same time last year.

“I’m seeing patients coming in who are wanting to conceive and trying to conceive now, too,” Norlander said.

This article originally ran on pressandguide.com.