Prior to the understanding of Couvade’s Sydrome (a.k.a. “male pregnancy”) as likely mediated by hormonal factors, many physicians believed that Couvades’s had its roots in psychology. Doctors assumed that men who experienced Couvade’s were subconsciously jealous of their pregnant wives. For instance, upon seeing his pregnant wife gorge on food, a husband might get jealous and eat more himself. This idea gained popularity in medical circles before medicine understood the powerful role played by hormones in mediating pregnancy symptoms.

In light of the modern understanding of how hormones work, the psychological view of Couvade’s seems more than a bit naïve. It is clearly an endocrinological issue. Consider that many other male mammals (in other species) experience pregnancy related weight gain and side effects, just like humans do.

For instance, take a look at this intriguing paper, published in the journal Biological Letters in June 2006: “Pregnancy weight gain: marmoset and tamarin dads show it too.”

The researchers examined two types of “new world monkeys” and concluded the following:

“Expectant males of both species showed significant weight gain during their mate’s pregnancy. This is the first demonstration of an incremental increase in weight in non-human primate expectant fathers… The weight gain occurs on a different timetable than female weight gain and has a clear adaptive potential in these males.

The only other species of primates which has been reported to have weight gain during their mate’s pregnancy are men, but no systematic study has been reported. Sympathetic pregnancy symptoms in men are referred to as ‘couvade’ (derived from the French ‘to incubate or hatch’), indicating that men share some of their mate’s pregnancy symptoms (Klein 1991). These symptoms include weight gain, nausea, headache, irritability, restlessness, backache, colds and nervousness (Clinton 1986). In one study of 81 expectant fathers, 47% experienced weight gain during the third trimester of gestation (Clinton 1986). Most reports of pregnancy symptoms in men have been thought to be psychosomatic, without a physical or biological basis for the symptoms (Klein 1991).

Neither the marmosets nor tamarins had their food supply increased during the pregnancy. However, without further research into the eating patterns of both sexes during the gestational period, it is unknown whether there is an increase in food intake to cause the weight gain or whether the males experience a change in metabolism in preparation for parturition. Both species receive more food than they normally eat within a day. Males begin to increase their weight prior to females, who show their highest increase in weight either during the last month of gestation (marmosets) or during the last two months of gestation (cotton top tamarins) when the greatest foetal growth occurs. This phenomenon suggests that expectant males are not following the trajectory of females, which might occur if they were eating sympathetically. Non-human primates are fed a complete diet on a daily basis, unlike humans who are able to change caloric intake over gestation.”

It is clear that expectant fathers of these species are physiologically responsive to their mate’s pregnancy and the impending birth.”

What is the moral of the marmoset and tamarin story?

The point of this discussion of Couvade’s is to show how powerful hormones like prolactin can be, even under non-pathological circumstances, in determining how the body works.

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