4am is the most common time babies are born

IN an ideal world, every baby would be born at a convenient hour, with labour over and done with by bedtime.

But, as any mother can attest, giving birth has never been all that convenient.

So it may come as little surprise that the most likely time for a baby to arrive is in the small hours of the morning, according to a study.

Researchers found that seven out of ten babies are born outside of the weekday hours of 9am to 5pm – with the most common birth time around 4am.

They suggest the likelihood of babies being born at night may be down to evolution. Our ancestors would gather at night after a day’s hunting, meaning mothers who went into labour at night would have greater protection from outside threats.

Analysis of more than five million births found that 28.5 per cent took place between 9am and 4.59pm on a weekday.

The remaining 71.5 per cent took place ‘out of hours’ – that is, between 5pm and 8.59am on weekdays or any time at weekends or on public holidays.

Births are most likely to happen between 1am and 6.59am, peaking at 4am, with the lowest number of births coming in the afternoon.

Babies are also slightly more likely to be born on weekdays than at the weekend or on public holidays, with the number of babies born at their lowest level on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The study, led by City, University of London, also found the time and day women give birth can vary significantly depending on how labour starts and the mode of giving birth.

Just over half of mothers now give birth after labours that start spontaneously – in other words, without being induced by drugs or having a caesarean section. Planned caesarean births account for one in ten of all deliveries, and were most likely to take place between 9am and 11.59am.

Births after induced labours, which made up more than a fifth of births, were more likely to occur around midnight on Tuesdays to Saturdays and on days before a public holiday period.

Researchers said the study – carried out in collaboration with University College London and the National Childbirth Trust – is the first national analysis to look at all aspects of time of birth.

Lead author Dr Peter Martin of UCL, who conducted the research while at City, said: ‘Long-term experience and research from other areas has shown that human births without obstetric intervention are most likely to occur at night or in the early hours of the morning.

‘This may be part of our evolutionary heritage. Our ancestors lived in groups that were active and dispersed during the day and came together to rest at night. So a night-time labour and birth probably afforded the mother and newborn baby some protection.’

He added: ‘It is not straightforward to understand why numbers of spontaneous births, without any obstetric intervention, were lower on Christmas Day and Boxing Day than on other days.

‘Selective obstetric intervention in preceding days could be an explanation but more research would be needed to investigate this.’ The study is published in the journal PLOS One.