Baby Fever

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About

Baby Fever is a slang term referring to the desire of some people to have a child (or grandchild) of their own. The term traces back to at least the early 2010s online but was largely popularized in the early 2020s and is often used online in wholesome content related to babies doing cute funny or heartwarming things.

Origin

The earliest mention of the slang term "baby fever" was posted on August 26th, 2011, in an NBC News^[1] article by Diane Mapes. The piece shares a study claiming that "'baby fever' – that sudden, visceral, and almost irresistible urge to have a baby – not only exists, it can be found in both men and women."

On August 2nd, 2015, Urban Dictionary user Z.G.^[2] posted (shown below) a definition for the baby fever expression, detailing it as, "A strong emotional urge to have a child. Commonly thought to be just for women, however; men get it as well." The post garnered nearly 600 likes in eight years.

Spread

Online, the expression "baby fever" has been used in wholesome and ironic memes since at least the mid-2010s. For example, a post (shown below, left) uploaded by an unknown Make A Meme^[3] user on April 21st, 2016, uses the expression "baby fever" with a picture of a skeptical baby and the caption "Have you got the baby fever?"

On April 13th, 2022, iFunny^[4] user @pseudonym_fern uploaded a Parkour! meme paired with the caption "Me going from baby fever to wanting a puppy and back to baby fever." The post did not receive significant engagement however.

The expression is also fairly prevalent on TikTok, with the hashtag "#babyfever" accumulating over 26 billion views on the platform as of October 2023.

On March 12th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @xoxblairwaldorf uploaded a clip from the HBO show Euphoria paired with the overlay text "me after randomly getting baby fever even tho I'm in high school." The post received over 16 million plays and 3.4 million likes in seven months (shown below).