- Getting Pregnant
- Pregnancy
- First Year
- Toddler
- Family
- Baby Names
- Baby Products
- Registry Builder
- Registry
- Community
- News
Community > Featured and Popular
Hot Topics
23.8K Discussions
214K Members
Start Discussion View Members Join Group Visit Archive
Community Guidelines Community Glossary
The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of What to Expect. Learn more about our guidelines
Just so you know, What to Expect may make commissions on shopping links on this page.
This discussion is archived and locked for posting.
See active discussions on Hot Topics
j
jlpg83
The elective c section list made me think of this. When I was about 37 weeks, my aunt came for a visit. She's a respiratory therapist as well as rn. I was complaining about how miserable I was and how I was so ready to have ds. She said that premature and pre term white boys almost always have to have help breathing. They call it wimpy white boy syndrome. She said that black girls are the best at not needing breathing help. So, at my next ob appt, I asked the dr about it and she called it the same thing, wimpy white boy syndrome. And then, my neighbor had a boy at 36 weeks and her delivery nurse was telling her to be prepared for him to need help breathing b/c he'll probably be a wimpy white boy. Can someone explain why it is that way and if you've ever heard it before? And to make it a ht, would you be offended if your nurse said that?
39 Comments
Oldest First
A
Ajoi
@jlpg83,
I hope all babies are born healthy and wouldn't wish the medical assistance on any newborn. I do think the saying is hilarious though and have no idea how they came up with that!
B
Bagmom
@jlpg83,
I went into labor at 36 weeks with my son and they stopped it because of wimpy white boy syndrome. Dr said I would have delivered if it was a girl.
B
Bobs_YourUncle
I think it's funny and I'm impressed that someone had the guts to name it that! If I didn't know it was the actual term, yeah, I'd be ticked if a nurse said it to me about my baby.
J
JessicaJDH
@jlpg83,
I've never heard of it. But you can bet your hiney that if black boy babies had worse problems they sure as heck wouldn't have the nuts to call it "wimpy black boy syndrome"! Personally, I don't have an issue with the term, even though I am white. I just find it amusing and irritating both that it's ok to use "white" in a description, but if you did that with other races it would be, well, racist.
s
sammyg1
I delivered my son at 36wks in December. He did have breathing problems and spent a week in the NICU. We didn't know the sex ahead of time, not sure if the docs did. My MFM was trying to get me to 37wks due to the risk for breathing problems, so maybe she knew. I heard the term several times while hospitalized and wasn't offended at all by the inclusion of race. I didn't like him being called whimpy though!
j
jlpg83
@sammyg1,
Right! I think I would be more offended at "wimpy" rather than the race.
k
kmb999
Wow that's funny. Can't believe that is an actual medical term....never heard of it. I agree w/ pp though, if it were called any other race besides 'white' it probably wouldn't fly....
C
CassieH06
@jlpg83,
I've heard of it and witnessed it. My neice was born at 32 weeks and spent 2 1/2 weeks in nicu. She never had any big problems. Her lungs just needed to mature a little. Her little brother was born at almost 35 weeks. My sister got the steroid shots a few days before she had him and he was still in nicu for 11 days. He needed alot of help breathing and got worse before he got better.
c
cea0630
@jlpg83,
It has been found and verified through numerous studies that preterm white boys do the worst while preterm black girls do the best. No one can come up with a good reason for it but statistics def back it up.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
{{/hideMessage}} {{^hideMessage}}
{{^IsArchived}}
{{#canEdit}} {{/canEdit}} {{#showIgnore}} {{/showIgnore}} {{^IsBanned}} {{#IsAbused}}
Violation Reported
{{/IsAbused}} {{^IsAbused}} {{#canEscalate}} Escalate for Review {{/canEscalate}} {{^canEscalate}} Report as Inappropriate {{/canEscalate}} {{/IsAbused}} {{/IsBanned}} {{#canDelete}} Delete Post {{/canDelete}}
{{#IsHidden}}
{{/IsHidden}} {{/IsArchived}} {{#AuthorIgnored}}
This post is hidden because it's being reviewed by moderators, it was created by a blocked user or was hidden by the original poster.
{{/AuthorIgnored}}
{{#HiddenRepliesCount}}
{{ShowMoreText}} {{#HiddenHasAbused}}
{{/HiddenHasAbused}}
{{/HiddenRepliesCount}} {{/hideMessage}} {{/object}}
You May Also Like
WTE Must Reads
Pregnancy Week by Week Pregnancy Symptoms Best Pregnancy Tests
