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During his wife's pregnancy four years ago, Marc Gelinas learned to live with mood swings, rapid weight gain, an obsessive urge to renovate the bathroom and bizarre cravings for sesame seeds. But at no point did he even think about teasing his wife Renee. These “pregnancy” symptoms were his own.

Packing on the pounds was the worst part, Mr. Gelinas recalls.

While his wife ate for two, he ate for three, chowing down on the rich meals and desserts she craved but was too nauseous to finish. Despite extra workouts at the gym, Mr. Gelinas says, his belly expanded so much that a tailor had to let out his suits.

After the first trimester, his friends joked that he was “showing” more than his wife was. And by the time she gave birth to their son, the first-time dad was waddling around with his own 20-pound baby bulge.

“It's almost like we became attuned,” says Mr. Gelinas, an investment salesman in Toronto.

Research suggests it wasn't all in his head.

Sympathetic pregnancy in men – also known as couvade syndrome – can bring on symptoms ranging from vomiting to stomach cramps and even false contractions, according to recent studies.

Since few men will cop to getting mood swings, let alone “morning sickness,” the prevalence of couvade is difficult to pin down. But researchers estimate that 10 to 65 per cent of expectant dads may feel some of their wives' pain.

At the very least, pregnancy can turn former hunks into tubby hubbies.

The average father-to-be gains 14 pounds during his partner's pregnancy, according to a recent survey of 5,000 men in Britain. The lads craved pizza, chocolate, potato chips and beer, the poll found, and one-quarter of the men were forced to buy looser “paternity” clothes to accommodate their extra girth.

Joseph Maes, a writer and car salesman in Santa Fe, N.M., says he can relate.

By joining his wife Anna in her midnight indulgences, which included bowls of ice cream and “humongous” sandwiches, Mr. Maes says, he gained a whopping 30 pounds during her pregnancy.

“I'm still trying to get rid of it,” says Mr. Maes, whose son was born in February.

It's not simply a matter of fatty foods being more available. Sensitive men may pig out to help their partners feel better about putting on baby weight, according to the British survey.

But most couvade symptoms go beyond a guy's inability to fit into skinny jeans.

A 2007 study at St. George's University of London examined 282 men whose wives were expecting and 281 men whose partners were not pregnant. The majority of the dads-to-be reported mood swings, stomach cramps, food cravings and morning sickness, and some even developed a swollen abdomen that mimicked a baby bump.

Most of the men's symptoms worsened into the third trimester and didn't ebb until after their partners had given birth.

Earlier studies by Canadian researchers Anne Storey and Katherine Wynne-Edwards found increases in estrogen and the milk-producing hormone prolactin in men as they became fathers. Their testosterone levels fluctuated as well.

But researchers say the cause of the hormonal changes remains unclear. And such fluctuations in men don't necessarily prove that couvade has a biological basis, according to Dr. Wynne-Edwards, a professor of comparative endocrinology at the University of Calgary.

“We joke that if a man has a sudden decrease in testosterone around the time of the birth, it might in fact be a response to his mother-in-law arriving for an extended visit,” she says.

First-time fathers often develop anxiety, which may explain the nausea and food cravings, notes Olga von Lipinski, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Vancouver.

But she doesn't dismiss the idea of couvade syndrome.

“It's interesting to see the [male] partners during the second stage of labour,” she says. “Often they're pushing subconsciously – you can see it in their faces.”

Although it's still not a recognized medical condition, the phenomenon has a long anecdotal history.

Victorian anthropologists discovered that fathers in certain non-Western cultures would set aside their weapons and rest in bed all day in the weeks before their partners gave birth. The syndrome got its name from the French verb couver , which means “to hatch” or “to brood.”

Jason Todd, a mining engineer in Sheridan, Wyo., says he's convinced that couvade is linked to emotions.

He had intense symptoms during two pregnancies of his wife Heidi, whom he describes as his soulmate. But he didn't experience any before the birth of his 11-year-old son from a previous relationship, he says. “There wasn't any love there.”

Sympathetic pregnancy is more common in men who are closely bonded with their partners and highly motivated fathers, according to some researchers.

During his wife's most recent pregnancy, Mr. Todd says, he gained 25 pounds, developed an aversion to certain foods, such as eggs, and often felt sick.

It wasn't just mild nausea, he says. “This was me at work thinking I'm going to lose my breakfast.” Mr. Todd says his friends thought he was “kooky” when he mentioned his symptoms and his wife's obstetrician-gynecologist “shrugged his shoulders and laughed.”

But Mr. Todd insists they were pregnancy-related. His nausea vanished after his second daughter arrived three weeks ago, and since then, he has shed about 18 pounds.

After the birth, he adds, “I didn't cry during TV commercials any more.”