Bengaluru: No baby boom this New Year’s Eve in the city. With obstetricians and gynaecologists discouraging expectant parents from opting for deliveries at a particular time, there was no spurt in babies delivered at the stroke of midnight on December 31.
“We hardly get any such requests,” said Dr Shuba Rama Rao, a senior consultant and head of obstetrics and gynaecology, St Martha’s Hospital.
Putting it in perspective, Dr Arvind Kasargod, Director Medical Services (India), Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, said, “That is probably because now people don’t think it to be a novelty anymore. People are keen to have a natural delivery irrespective of the time and date. It is a good thing, as it is important to have natural deliveries.”
He said that all the centres of Cloudnine across the city had 19 deliveries that day. Of which 12 were girls and seven were boys. Motherhood Hospital welcomed ten newborns that day.
Dr Gayatri Kartik, a senior consultant, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Manipal Hospitals, said, “This craze for deliveries on a specific day has come down. Earlier, prospective parents were keen on baby being delivered that day. But, thankfully, people have become less enthusiastic about such births and prefer welcoming a child normally and that is the reason the trend is down.”
She, however, added that of the five births, there was one couple that wanted a baby on January 1, while the delivery was slated for three days earlier.
“The mother said she wanted to wait and we admitted her with an understanding that if there was any risk to the baby, we would go ahead with the delivery. Since we saw that the baby was safe and it was normal to wait, we induced labour on December 31," she said, adding that sometimes people got a fixated on astrological aspects.
Rainbow Children’s Hospital's branch in Marathahalli-ORR welcomed three babies on January 1 and two at their Bannerghatta Road facility.
Vani Vilas Hospital welcomes 54 newborns
The government-run Vani Vilas Hospital welcomed 54 newborns on January 1. “We had 54 deliveries, of which 44 were virginal births and 10 were C-section. Five of them were admitted to NICU as they were not well," said Dr R. Premalatha, professor and HOD Vani Vilas Hospital, BMCRI. One of them admitted at the hospital's NICU passed away and rest of the four are recovering, she said.
