Fathers have 'sympathy pregnancies' study shows
14th June 2007
He cries in public, does the dishes and even has his own skincare regime. Now today’s new man has gone one step further — by ‘getting pregnant’ in sympathy with his partner.
A study of men whose partners were expecting has shown that the vast majority experience ‘pregnancy symptoms’, ranging from food cravings to swollen stomachs.
Author of the study for St George’s, University of London, Dr Arthur Brennan, Senior Lecturer in Research Methods and Statistics and Psychology at the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, explained: “These men were so attuned to their partners, they started to develop the same symptoms.”
A group of 282 expectant fathers aged between 19 and 55 were monitored through each stage of the pregnancy and the results compared to a control group of 281. In the study, the majority of men in the test group developed symptoms including mood swings, morning sickness and even pseudocyesis — where the abdomen swells to mimic a pregnant stomach.
With the exception of the false ‘baby bump’, which continued to grow post-partum, symptoms gradually worsened throughout the early stage of pregnancy, peaked during the third trimester and disappeared shortly after birth.
Stomach cramps were among the most common symptoms. One father-to-be said he felt as if he was giving birth. “My stomach pains were very much like a build-up of a woman’s contraction as she’s giving birth. They started mild and then got stronger and stronger and stronger,” he told researchers.
Closely following were morning sickness and changes in appetite. One dad admitted: “I had an unstoppable craving for chicken kormas and poppadams. Even in the early hours of the morning.”
Though no one knows the exact reason why men experience sympathetic symptoms, also known as Couvade Syndrome, Dr Brennan insists they’re not simply trying to ‘muscle in’.
“Some people may perceive this as men trying to get in on the act, but far from being attention-seeking, these symptoms are involuntary,” said Dr Brennan. “Often the men haven’t got a clue about what’s happening to them.
“Doctors don’t recognise Couvade Syndrome — there’s no medical diagnosis. Yet this research proves that Couvade Syndrome really exists — the results speak for themselves.”
The results of the study, the largest of its kind ever carried out in the UK, were echoed by the experience of midwives here at St George’s. Dr Val Collington, Head of School of Midwifery, said: “Midwives might not be surprised at these findings. One midwife told me that in her experience, men often complain of nausea during the early stage of their partner’s pregnancy.”
Though a father of two, Dr Brennan didn’t discover the syndrome through personal experience, but came across it ‘by accident’ while he was studying foetal and paternal attachment earlier in his career.
Dr Brennan is Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences.
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