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Couvade: Sympathetic Pregnancy

Couvade is the medical term for sympathetic pregnancy. These are some journal articles that will tell you a bit more about couvade, who is at risk for it and what you can do about it.

Title
Expectant fathers at risk for couvade.
Author
Clinton JF
Source
Nurs Res, 35: 5, 1986 Sep-Oct, 290-5
Abstract

A repeated measures survey design was used to monitor the physical and emotional health of 81 expectant fathers at lunar month intervals throughout their partners' pregnancy and the early postpartum period. The data set consisted of 515 repeated measures. The backward elimination regression procedure was used to identify six factors that partially explained health events experienced by expectant fathers: affective involvement in pregnancy, number of previous children, income, ethnic identity, perceived stress, and recent health prior to expectant fatherhood.

Title
Couvade syndrome: male counterpart to pregnancy.
Author
Klein H
Address
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
Source
Int J Psychiatry Med, 21: 1, 1991, 57-69
Abstract

Couvade is the common but poorly understood phenomenon whereby the expectant father experiences somatic symptoms during the pregnancy for which there is no recognized physiological basis. Symptoms commonly include indigestion, increased or decreased appetite, weight gain, diarrhea or constipation, headache, and toothache. Onset is usually during the third gestational month with a secondary rise in the late third trimester. Symptoms generally resolve with childbirth. Couvade has been seen as an expression of somatized anxiety, pseudo-sibling rivalry, identification with the fetus, ambivalence about fatherhood, a statement of paternity, or parturition envy. It is likely that the dynamics of couvade may vary between individuals and may be multidetermined.

Title
Couvade syndrome in expectant Thai fathers.
Author
Khanobdee C; Sukratanachaiyakul V; Gay JT
Address
University of Alabama School of Nursing, Birmingham 35294.
Source
Int J Nubs Stud, 30: 2, 1993 Apr, 125-31
Abstract

The occurrence of somatic symptoms by expectant fathers, commonly referred to as the couvade syndrome, has been reported to exist in American and European males. The purpose of this study was to describe the incidence of the couvade syndrome in Thai males. Responses provided by 172 expectant Thai fathers indicate that they also experience somatic symptoms during their partner's pregnancy.

Title
The couvade syndrome.
Author
Masoni S; Maio A; Trimarchi G; de Punzio C; Fioretti P
Address
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Pisa, Italy.
Source
J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol, 15: 3, 1994 Sep, 125-31
Abstract

The couvade syndrome can be considered to be the psychosomatic equivalent of primitive rituals of initiation into paternity. Various symptoms have been described in the husbands of pregnant women with an incidence from 11% to 65%. The most common of these are: variations in appetite, nausea, insomnia and weight gain. Seventy-three couples with the women in the last month of pregnancy were given a questionnaire; as a reference group, 73 men without pregnant wives or children under 1 year of age were taken. An emotional involvement connected with pregnancy was reported in 91.78% of the men. This involvement was expressed as changes in sexual habits in 87.67% of cases, fear and anxiety in 36.98% and curiosity in 47.94%. With the exception of nausea, physical symptoms were less frequent in the men with pregnant wives than in those without pregnant wives. These data cannot confirm the existence of the couvade syndrome with its own physical symptoms but we think that some male experiences, which constitute a peculiar imaginary and behavioral reality of the father-to-be, do exist.

Title
Beyond couvade: pregnancy symptoms in couples with a history of infertility.
Author
Holditch-Davis D; Black BP; Harris BG; Sandelowski M; Edwards L
Source
Health Care Women Int, 15: 6, 1994 Nov-Dec, 537-48
Abstract

Thirty-six couples with a history of infertility reported their physical, positive emotional, and negative emotional symptoms during pregnancy. The women experienced more physical symptoms than did the men. Both the men and women experienced second-trimester decreases in negative emotional symptoms and third-trimester increases in negative emotional symptoms. The women's physical symptoms also showed a second-trimester dip. Each symptom type was correlated for husbands and wives, but only 6 husbands showed evidence of couvade syndrome by exhibiting exact correspondence with their wives' symptoms. Symptom attunement appears to be a better term than couvade for most infertile men's experiences of pregnancy.
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