But it seems many women will do all they can to ‘improve’ their babies’ chances before they’re even born. From playing music to babies in the womb (music can apparently affect your baby’s fetal development thus improving their future academic skills according to a recent study) to knocking back handfuls of omega 3 (proven in some studies to improve your baby’s intelligence) and sticking to a strictly organic diet (proven to improve a baby’s attention span), increasing numbers of women are taking a multitude of approaches. Why do we want a perfect baby so badly? Actually, it’s part of our innate biology.

THE BEAUTIFUL TRUTH

“It’s a basic evolutionary drive to want your children to succeed and survive,” explains Oxford University professor Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. “I’d find it more surprising if people didn’t care if their baby was healthy, attractive or intelligent as they are traits that increase chance of survival.” You may scoff at this, but the fact is good-looking babies are treated better than those who are less attractive. When researchers at the University of Texas studied maternal behaviour, they found mothers whose babies had been judged as attractive (by a team of outsiders) were actually more affectionate toward their children, spent more time playing with them and were less distracted by other people while interacting with them. Past research has also shown parents are more likely to punish a child severely if they aren’t traditionally attractive. So when you hear that guilty voice whispering that you really hope he doesn’t have your ears, it’s just nature’s way of trying to ensure your baby gets a head start in life.

There’s also something called the Theory of Parental Investment to consider – bringing up a child takes a lot of time, effort, energy and biological resources, so you’re genetically programmed to attempt to get the best one you can. Add this to another issue called Lifetime Reproductive Success – while men can distribute sperm all over the show, women only have a finite fertile life and relatively limited amount of times they can get pregnant – and again, it’s clear to see why women especially want to produce the best version of a child that they can. In fact, studies looking into what makes parents pick particular children for adoption has found that men tend to choose children who genetically resemble them, while women pick those who look attractive or give off signs of health. Scientists believe that this is all to do with the fact that if a child looks like them, men can be more certain that they fathered the child. The logical understanding that a child is adopted isn’t enough to overrule a man’s instinctive attraction to a child that physically resembles him.

We may be right to long for a specific genetic combination. New research shows that what a person looks like does have an effect on their future success. A recent study at Harvard University found that people with blue eyes tend to be more intelligent and gain more qualifications whereas those with brown eyes have better reaction times, making them better at activities such as football and hockey. And another found than blondes earn £600 more than their brunette colleagues.