Expectant dads get sick and tired too

Men experience some symptoms by the end of their partner's first trimester. File photo / Northern Advocate

Men believe they suffer the same symptoms of pregnancy as their partners, according to a new survey.

Questionnaires filled out by 400 men and women from the Waikato reveal men reported food cravings, weight gain, constipation, headaches, toothaches and even labour pains.

The findings came from a 10-week study by Waikato University researcher Irene Lightwark.

She says it shows Kiwi men suffer from a phenomenon called Couvade Syndrome, already recognised overseas.

Men experience some symptoms by the end of their partner's first trimester. Symptoms "die down" by the second trimester but resurface towards the end of the third, disappearing after the birth.

Lightwark says up to 90 per cent of men in the US and 30-60 per cent in Europe suffer from the syndrome. The Cambridge antenatal educator said the issue was "no joke" and it was wrong to put it down to "attention-seeking".

"I want to raise awareness that it's a real thing that happens to some men."

She didn't think her husband had pregnancy symptoms when she had her children but noted he was shattered three days after the births.

"When I would be ready to take on the world, he would disappear and sleep."