Bundles of Christmas joy welcomed into SA

The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Johannesburg delivered the most Christmas babies – 22 babies born in the first 12 hours of Christmas Day.

The Northern Cape boasted the first baby of the day, a girl born at midnight, while the second was a boy, born in KwaZulu-Natal at two minutes past midnight.

National department of health spokesperson Foster Mohale said more than 500 babies were welcomed into the world in the first 12 hours on Monday.

ALSO READ: SA delivered over 500 Christmas babies

The third Christmas baby was born “at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital at 00.03am and the next was born at the West End Community Health Centre at 00.04am, both in the Eastern Cape,” he said.

Almost 40% of the total were born in Gauteng health facilities, followed by KwaZulu-Natal. Last year more boys were born on Christmas Day – of the 1 414 total, 746 were boys and 668 girls.

The Gauteng MEC for health and wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, congratulated the parents of the newborns delivered at public health facilities in the province between midnight and noon on Christmas Day.

ALSO READ: KwaZulu-Natal welcomes 73 Christmas babies

She visited Sebokeng Regional Hospital that day, handing over gifts to the mothers of newborns. “We have committed the Gauteng provincial government to ensure that our Tish [township, informal settlement and hostel] communities are prioritised in all government programmes,” she said.

“These gift packs, which include essentials such as nappies, Bundles of Christmas joy welcomed into SA wipes, bum creams, soap and bathtub, will go a long way in the first days to a month of the babies’ lives.”

Nkomo-Ralehoko said the province’s academic hospitals had delivered 41 babies, with Baragwanath accounting for 22, followed by Steve Biko Academic Hospital with seven births.

Tertiary hospitals delivered 20 babies, with Tembisa Hospital near Kempton Park accounting for 16 deliveries and Kalafong Hospital four.

Regional and district hospitals delivered 81 babies, while 49 were born in community healthcare centres.

First cries worldwide

• Worldwide, three babies are born every second and usually, on average, about 220 000 babies are born each day.

• But on Christmas Day, that drops to about 172 000.

• The Christmas holiday is special for another reason: most babies are born in August and September, meaning they are conceived during the festive season.

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The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Njabulo Nzuza, visited the Queen Nandi Regional Hospital in Empangeni, where eight babies were born on Christmas Day.

Nzuza said the department had home affairs officials stationed at various hospitals to make sure births were registered.

“We encourage mothers to give their children a right of citizenship in South Africa by registering them,” he said.

Nzuza said the idea was to have the newborns registered in the hospital to ensure they were recorded by the time the mother left the hospital.