The closest physical equivalent to giving birth that men can experience is passing a kidney stone. When surveyed on a 10-point pain scale, kidney stone patients rated their worst pain at 7.9 out of 10, nearly identical to first-time mothers, who rated labor pain between 7 and 8. The comparison goes beyond just the pain score: the underlying mechanism is surprisingly similar.
Why Kidney Stones Feel Like Labor
Kidney stones cause pain by blocking the flow of urine from the kidney. When urine backs up behind the stone, it creates waves of intense cramping that build, peak, and temporarily ease, much like labor contractions. These waves hit the lower abdomen and back in a pattern that many patients describe as relentless and nauseating. The pain often arrives without warning, escalates quickly, and can last for hours.
A 1996 Scandinavian study asked first-time mothers to rate their worst moment of labor pain: the average fell between 7 and 8 out of 10. Mothers who had given birth before rated it slightly lower, between 6 and 7. A 2016 survey of 287 kidney stone patients, cited by researchers at Keck Medicine of USC, found an average worst-pain score of 7.9. On a purely numerical basis, the experiences overlap almost perfectly. Research using the McGill Pain Questionnaire, one of the most widely used pain measurement tools in medicine, ranked labor pain among the most intense pains ever recorded with the instrument.
There are real differences, though. Labor pain serves a biological purpose, typically builds gradually over hours, and ends with the delivery of a baby. Kidney stone pain can spike suddenly, may last days or weeks depending on the stone’s size and location, and offers no predictable endpoint. Labor also involves hormonal shifts (including natural pain-dampening chemicals) that kidney stone episodes do not.
Other Painful Conditions Men Compare to Childbirth
Kidney stones get the most attention, but a few other conditions land in the same pain range. A severe gallbladder attack, where a stone blocks the bile duct, produces similar wave-like cramping in the upper abdomen that patients frequently compare to labor. Testicular torsion, where a testicle twists and cuts off its own blood supply, causes sudden, extreme pain that peaks rapidly and requires emergency treatment. Cluster headaches, sometimes called “suicide headaches,” produce pain so intense that sufferers have rated it above childbirth on standardized scales. All of these can affect men (and some affect women too), but none map onto the full experience of labor the way kidney stones do, because kidney stones uniquely replicate the rhythmic, cramping, pressure-based pain of contractions.
Sympathetic Pregnancy Is Real
Some men experience a version of pregnancy itself, not just labor pain. Couvade syndrome, sometimes called sympathetic pregnancy, causes real physical symptoms in the partners of pregnant women. These symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, back pain, bloating, weight gain, appetite changes, fatigue, and leg cramps. In one study of 267 couples in New York City, about 20% of partners sought medical care for these symptoms. A broader 2007 review estimated that some degree of Couvade symptoms may affect up to 97% of partners worldwide, though most cases are mild.
The cause isn’t fully understood. Hormonal shifts have been documented in expectant fathers, including changes in stress hormones and even testosterone levels. Psychological factors like anxiety, empathy, and the emotional weight of becoming a parent likely play a role too. The symptoms typically appear in the first trimester, may ease in the second, and often return in the third trimester before resolving after the baby is born.
Men Can Also Get Postpartum Depression
The parallels don’t stop at physical pain. New fathers can develop postpartum depression with the same core symptoms mothers experience: persistent sadness, exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, anxiety, and disrupted eating and sleeping patterns. Fathers who are younger, have a history of depression, face financial stress, or are dealing with relationship difficulties are at the highest risk. The condition responds to the same types of treatment and support that help mothers, and recognizing it early makes a significant difference in outcomes for both the father and the family.
Male Pregnancy in Nature
If you’re curious whether any males actually give birth, the answer is yes. Male seahorses carry developing embryos inside a specialized brood pouch on their abdomen. This isn’t just passive egg-holding. The pouch functions like a uterus, complete with a placenta-like structure that delivers nutrients, exchanges oxygen and waste, regulates salt levels, and provides immune protection to the embryos. When it’s time to deliver, muscles lining the pouch contract to push the fully developed young out, a process that looks remarkably like labor contractions.
Male lactation is far rarer but does exist. Two species of fruit bats in Southeast Asia have been documented producing milk from functional mammary tissue. Whether those males actually nurse their young remains unclear, but the biological capacity is there. In humans, male lactation has only been observed under unusual hormonal conditions and isn’t a typical part of fatherhood.