On infant mortality

[steer]

On twitter I casually posted "Have you noticed that people usually give a weight when announcing births but almost never when announcing marriages or deaths." webcowgirl pointed out, almost certainly correctly, that this is because birthweight correlates with infant mortality. I would be willing to lay money this is where the tradition comes from. But you

Comments

[ivory_goddess]

A friend gave birth prematurely, and when the birth announcement was made, the weight given was metric, not imperial. I've always assumed that was on the grounds that the standard 'x lbs y oz' figure in this case would have been quite scary.

[steer]

Actually, I do get frustrated with the imperial measurements commonly used. Every time I read them I think "Gah, your child has been on this planet one day and I'm already angry with it!"

[puritypersimmon]

You can also use the information to establish yourself within the mum birthing hierarchy : anything under 5lb elicits sympathy and concern; 5-9lb, a slightly bored nod; anything over 9lb, wincing respect.

A flooded quarry in Wales sounds a very Halloween appropriate destination to me ;-p

[steer]

If I had a baby it would be born in metric.

The quarry was definitely Halloween appropriate. It's scary enough going to the loo in the dark by trudging through a carpark in the rain (because the accom is not ensuite) but so much worse when there's skeletons and spiders decorating the place.

[puritypersimmon]

If your baby was born in metric, I'd have no idea what size it was!

I'm not sure a Welsh quarry and dank loo are as scary as a troop of pre-schoolers trick or treating, tbh.

[steer]

On the other hand if the baby is born in imperial loads of other people won't know. Indeed until a few years ago myself.

[random_redhead]

the weight correlates to the volume of the child and therefore the suffering endured during labour. weight and length of labour and home/hospital/drug regime are crucial aspects of the equation ;-)

[steer]

I'm just going to have to deal with a lot of dead babies to get this equation right!

[ravensthorpe]

...because I'm going to spend Halloween weekend underwater in a flooded quarry in Wales.

You got a new lair?

[steer]

My previous lair was insuffiently rainy.

[ravensthorpe]

Death weight must have some correlation to mortality too bearing in mind that most people die of illnesses connected to runaway cell growth and/or hearts giving way under the strain of high pressure arteries.

[steer]

I would have thought even in these times of NHS cuts very nearly 100% of people are dead at their own funeral.