words by Elizabeth Ganley-Roper
On 29th of February, leap day, the birth of 56 “leaplings” was registered in Milan, a record number considering an average of 30-40 babies are born daily in the capital city of Lombardy.
On the last leap day, in 2008, only 31 leaplings were born, 19 of which were male and 12 female. This year, the number of births on the rarest of calendar days increased by 25, with the equal number of 28 males and females and two sets of twins.
While some parents long to give their child a leap year birthday, others prefer not to live with the fact that they can only celebrate their child’s true birthday every four years and will often have to celebrate a day early or later. In fact, among the mothers destined for a Caesarean, more than a few decided to forfeit, preferring to anticipate or postpone the birth.
