Nesting urges occur in pregnant women and are most evident more than one month before giving birth. However, nesting urges can occur from the second half of pregnancy. Men can sometimes also suffer from nesting urges, triggered by their pregnant wives.
What is nesting urge?
We mainly recognize the urge to nest in animals: a pregnant rabbit that makes its nest a few hours to a few days before birth or a dog that starts digging/scratching or hiding in various places just before giving birth.Nesting urges also occur in pregnant women. Naturally, a pregnant woman does not dig holes and make a nest just before giving birth, but expresses her urge to nest in a different way. Almost every pregnant woman shows nesting urges to some extent. The urge to nest usually manifests itself from the second half of pregnancy, and is most evident one month before delivery. One woman has a strong nesting urge, while the other hardly bothers with it.
How is the urge to nest expressed?
Nesting urges mainly manifest themselves in cleaning and tidying up. The pregnant woman will clean much more thoroughly than she did before. Suddenly she seems to notice every speck of dust and dirt. The bathroom joints are scrubbed with a toothbrush, the floor is vigorously mopped on the knees and the baby clothes are washed and ironed up to five times.For some women this is very tiring: in addition to the already difficult pregnancy, extra demands are now placed on the body. Many women give up after a while. The strongest nesting urge emerges around one month before giving birth. The hormone prolactin is responsible for this.
The primal behavior
The urge to nest is not a strange phenomenon in itself, it dates back to the time when the urge to nest had a real function. The environment for the baby had to be warm, clean and safe. Insects were chased away, material was collected to serve as a cradle and dirt was swept away. Above all, a safe place to give birth was selected. It can be compared to a bird preparing the nest for her young.Nowadays we no longer have to defend ourselves against predators, dangerous insects or branches with thorns. We buy a complete baby room, turn up the heating and sleep in our own warm bed. We also don’t have to worry about the birth: with one phone call the midwife is there, who helps us through the birth and can intervene medically. Yet the urge to nest remains: it makes us want to have the baby’s room in order, everything is safe and warm. Because nowadays we no longer have to put in much effort to get everything ready, the nesting urge also extends to rooms where the baby does not have to come at all in the first few weeks.
Nesting urge in the male
The expectant father can also be infected by the urge to nest. This often manifests itself in renovating a room, completing jobs around the house or thoroughly cleaning out the shed. Men who previously cleaned around the house will now brush more often and more thoroughly.In males too, the urge to nest often manifests itself one month before birth. Although men do not do this under the influence of the pregnancy hormone, they are encouraged to do so by their pregnant wives. When the woman starts to show a nesting urge, the man will often unconsciously adopt this behavior and start busy doing odd jobs around the house.For some men, women’s urge to nest seems like an unnecessary luxury. Yet it is better for the man to let the woman have her way. The urge to nest is a primal instinct that cannot be resisted. It is better to give in, otherwise this will only cause unrest for the woman. The man can lend a helping hand or ensure that the woman does not perform dangerous stunts. Many pregnant women with nesting urges go to great lengths in cleaning and climb dangerous steps and steps and crawl into or under everything.
Nesting and shopping
In prehistoric times, the pregnant woman had to collect material useful for the baby: soft leaves, feathers, sturdy branches. In our modern times, pregnant women still have that collecting craze in the form of purchases. Entrepreneurs take advantage of this by opening large department stores full of baby items. One store is even larger than the other and offers an extensive range of useful, but often useless items for the baby.A pregnant woman with an urge to nest cannot be contained : with her debit card firmly clutched in her hand, she almost buys out an entire baby shop. The man would do well to keep the purchase receipts in a safe place: this way it is possible to return the useless purchases.