Babies are like fruits🍐: not all are ripe on a "due date"!

Your Due Date Is Not an Expiration Date!

🗯️ The social pressure of due dates

When you are pregnant, one of the first things people will ask is: “When are you due?” That single date often becomes the focus of conversations with friends, family, and even medical staff.

But the truth is: the traditional “due date” at exactly 40 weeks after the last menstrual period is not evidence-based. More here

Sometimes, due dates can create unnecessary pressure: either on yourself, making you feel like something is “wrong” if your baby arrives earlier or later than expected, or as a trigger for interventions like inductions (more here.)

Instead, research shows that birth is best understood as a range of time, not a fixed point.

🤐 So, just remember that you don't have to tell others about your due date!

And more generally, you may want to avoid using the term "due date" and instead use broader or more poetic alternatives that convey that the exact date is not fixed, such as:

• Estimated time of birth

• Likely birth period

• Birth window

• Birthing month

• Baby’s estimated arrival time ;) 

👩‍⚕️ How due dates are calculated - & the medical pressure on due dates

Most practitioners use Naegele’s rule to figure out an estimated due date (EDD). The rule assumes that every person ovulates exactly on the 14th day of a 28-day cycle. But cycles and ovulation vary greatly, which means this method can easily miscalculate your baby’s timing.

(Note: some health care providers will adjust your due date for longer or shorter menstrual cycles, or based on data from an echography measuring your embryo and its development and this might link to a recalculation of the due date, but most often, Naegele's rule, rules!).

Often, once you past your term by a few days, you will start being talked about induction. This can be a lot of pressure... A lot of clinics in Germany "let you"go over your due date by 10 days (41+3 SSW), with regular controls (CTG, echography). before strongly recommending an induction.

I will post more on the topic of "induction for due dates" later.

🌱 The “due date” at 40 weeks is not evidence-based

Birth is a range, not a single day:

• First-time moms: Half give birth by 40 + 5 days, the rest after.

• Experienced moms: Half give birth by 40 + 3 days, the rest after.

  
  

📅 More accurate ways to estimate

• Ovulation day (when known with IVF or fertility tracking).

• Early ultrasound (best between 11–14 weeks).

  
  

📊 What the evidence says

• For first-time mothers, half will give birth by 40 weeks + 5 days, and the other half will give birth later.

• For those who have given birth before, half will give birth by 40 weeks + 3 days, with the rest giving birth after that.

  
  

So while the calendar may circle one date, nature doesn’t always follow it.

Your due date is a time window, not a deadline.

🍎 “According to traditional wisdom in rural France, a baby in the womb should be compared to fruit on the tree. Not all the fruit on the same tree is ripe at the same time... we must accept that some babies need a much longer time than others before they are ready to be born.” — Michel Odent

🤍 Dear Dr. Michel Odent has just left this world, RIP to this wonderful man full of wisdom, I am forever grateful that I had the chance to be part of one of his trainings. He taught me and then world so much!

🤍 As a doula, I support you in making informed decisions, so you feel confident, empowered, and prepared for your baby’s unique timing. Inducing labour for due dates is a really important decision, and you need to be fully informed understanding procedures, risks, benefits and alternatives in order to make a real decision!