Baby boom after steamy summer

Passions ran so high during the steamy nights of the summer heatwave that Britain is expecting a baby boom, say NHS chiefs.

Summer loving led to a 50 per cent rise in the number of women due to give birth in the New Year in some parts of the country.

With the summer of 2003 one of the warmest on record, experts say passions reached a peak that will result in a maternity bulge in April and May next year.

And some are warning of a second birth-wave in August - nine months after England's glorious win over Australia in the Rugby World Cup final.

Huw Williams, women and children's services manager for Swansea NHS Trust, is among those keeping count in the nation's maternity units. He said: 'We have a long, hot summer and this is what emerges. When I saw the figures I had to double-check them, because I couldn't quite believe it.

'At this stage in the year we would have expected around 1,400 new referrals, but we are 629 over this.'

Maternity unit staff at the Singleton Hospital in Swansea are now looking for ways to cope with the boom.

Consultant obstetrician Peter Bowen-Simpkins said hot weather could have surprising effects on libidos.

'Passions can rise along with the temperature - but when it gets too hot, men are less keen. They reach a kind of plateau and then they wilt.

'But women aren't put off as the thermometer rises - they become more passionate and stay that way.'

He said doctors in England are likely to brace themselves for a similar increase in pregnancies following the rugby victory.

'It seems very likely it could result in a rise in conceptions. We don't mind the work, but it's going to be an extra challenge when we're already short of doctors and midwives - and facing changes in working hours that mean further shortages are in the pipeline next summer.'

While the weather can have substantial effects on the birth rate, there are many other influences that can trigger a baby boom.

The birth rate soared in the 1970s, when power cuts put the nation on three-day working weeks and early to bed.

And earlier this year soccer star David Beckham was 'blamed' for a baby boom.

His winning goal against Argentina in the knockout stages of last year's World Cup tournament led to millions celebrating into the night and, apparently, in the bedroom.