Melanie Townsend with her daughter Poppy. Picture: Bradley Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph
THE practice of staying mum on pregnancy hopes until the first trimester passes has fallen away with many parents now sharing baby plans earlier with family and friends.
In stark contrast to previous generations, women aged 25 to 44 are now twice as likely (67 per cent) to share their conception plans, compared to their own mothers.
A national study by pregnancy and fertility test company Clearblue found NSW women were most likely to share their baby-making plans with their mothers (19 per cent), other family members (18 per cent) and their partner's family (14 per cent).
Girlfriends and other friends were also close confidantes, with 12 per cent told of the pregnancy news.
University of NSW head of obstetrics and gynaecology, Professor William Ledger, said the community was now more open about what was discussed than before.
But he warned one in five pregnancies was at risk of miscarriage and said sharing conception attempt news could put pressure on couples.
"People often don't realise the average (time to become pregnant) is between three and nine months, even for young couples," Prof. Ledger said. "So if you announce to the world you are trying and then if it doesn't happen quickly, you could be announcing there is a fertility problem, which not everyone wants to share."
Sharing pregnancy news on Facebook is now a popular move, with a new status update for "expectant child".
Dr Alison Gee, a fertility expert with Genea, said couples may open up to people they feel comfortable with and who they feel will support them during the pregnancy.
"Part of the reason too is we can have earlier imaging of pregnancy now - we have a scan at seven weeks and they see a foetus and a fetal heart (beat) and that is very encouraging," she said.
"Some pregnancies are still lost between having a positive scan at seven or 12 weeks, but we have more information about pregnancies earlier on and that gives patients a bit more confidence to share pregnancy information."
Melanie Townsend opted to keep her pregnancy secret until she had passed the 12-week danger period.
The future grandparents were the first to learn the happy news, she said.
Her precious daughter, Poppy, was born on Christmas Day last year. "We waited until we got the 12-week all clear and knew it was a happy, healthy baby and then we shouted it from the rooftops," Mrs Townsend said.
"I know plenty of people who have told us earlier - it is quite common now at eight weeks. But going forward if we became pregnant again I wouldn't change that. I would wait until the three months.
Clearblue said its newest test is over 99 per cent accurate at detecting pregnancy from the day a period is due.
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