When Should You Announce Your Pregnancy?

Why do some people announce their pregnancy right away and some wait until after the first trimester? I’m three months pregnant, and my midwife suggested I wait until after my anatomy scan to tell people. My mom said not to announce it until after the baby is born! (Some old superstition about jinxing the pregnancy.) Is there a better time to announce to different people, like when should I tell my job or my friends?

—Excited and waiting to tell everybody

The reason you’re getting so many different suggestions is that this is entirely — and I mean entirely — about preference and what works for you. If you have a feeling about when you want to announce, that is the right time.

The most common time to start generally announcing a pregnancy may be at the end of the first trimester. This probably reflects miscarriage risk. The risk of a miscarriage goes down through the first trimester, from perhaps as high as 20% at 5 weeks pregnant to 1% to 2% at 12 weeks. So waiting longer — until 12 or 13 weeks — means you are less likely to find yourself sharing that you’ve had a miscarriage. For some people, this is a reason to wait. For others, it is a reason to tell others sooner, because of the possible need for support. This concern may also inform who you tell.

A second consideration is the need for support while you’re pregnant. If you’re extremely sick in the first trimester and need support with your family or job, it may be a good idea to tell others so you can get that support.

It would be unusual to wait until the baby arrives to tell people you were pregnant. For one thing, if you are seeing those people in person, they may notice. They might be too polite to ask! But 38 weeks pregnant is noticeable in most people. There are superstitions in many cultures about celebrating a baby before birth, or about buying needed items, because of a worry about the evil eye or similar. These are not based on data.

To go back to the top: this is your news, and you should tell people when you want to. And you can tell different people at different times. It’s completely up to what you need and are comfortable with.