Originally published 2019-09-15.
In August 2019, Alexis and David Brett from Aberdeen, Scotland, welcomed a baby girl named Cameron. What made the birth newsworthy was everything that came before it: Cameron arrived after ten sons in a row, born over roughly 15 years. Media reports at the time described Alexis as the first mother in Britain known to have had ten consecutive boys, a claim that comes from the family's coverage rather than any official register.
The pregnancy was a surprise. The couple believed their family was complete after their youngest son, Rothagaidh, was born in 2016, and when Alexis found out she was expecting again they assumed it would be another boy. Instead, at 39, she became a mother of eleven and, for the first time, the mother of a daughter. The photos below, taken by the agency Caters, show the family shortly after Cameron's birth, followed by a selection of the public reactions that poured in on social media once the story spread. Each image comes with a short note on who and what it shows.
Meet the Brett family
The whole Brett family gathered at home in Aberdeen soon after Cameron's birth in August 2019. Alexis holds the newborn in the centre while the boys, then aged 2 to 17, line up in matching blue T-shirts and David sits nearby with one of the youngest. The coordinated outfits became one of the most talked-about details of the photo shoot.
Alexis sits on the lawn outside the family home surrounded by her ten sons. From eldest to youngest they are Campbell, Harrison, Corey, Lachlan, Brodie, Brahn, Hunter, Mack, Blake and Rothagaidh. Before Cameron came along, Rothagaidh, born in 2016, had been expected to be the last of the Brett children.
Alexis with baby Cameron, the eleventh Brett child and the couple's first daughter. She told reporters she was shocked but delighted to learn the baby was a girl, as the couple had assumed another son was on the way. Alexis was 39 at the time and said the family was now complete.
A second family portrait on the sofa, with the brothers squeezed in around their mother and new sister. The parents said the boys became noticeably calmer after Cameron arrived, taking care not to wake her and asking to help with holding and feeding. David described the change as great to see.
Daily life with eleven children
Running a home with eleven children takes careful routine. David, then 44, works as a train driver and usually leaves around 5:30 in the morning. Alexis described that early window, before the boys wake, as her only quiet time for a coffee and a shower. Her estimates of 49 loads of laundry a week and hoovering about seven times a day became the most quoted lines of the story.
She has also been frank that it is not always easy. There are moments, she admitted, when she and David glance at each other and wonder what they have taken on, before one of the children does something that makes it all feel worthwhile. The couple were clear that Cameron would be their last: Alexis told reporters there would be no more.
How readers reacted
When the photos were shared online, thousands of people responded. Most comments were congratulations or jokes, but the family's size and the choice of name also drew criticism. These screenshots show a cross-section of the responses posted on Facebook.
Many readers on Facebook focused on Alexis herself. This top comment, with hundreds of reactions, praised how well she looked after eleven pregnancies. Alexis has said she spent more than eight years of an 18-year span pregnant.
The most-liked reaction, with more than a thousand responses, was about the name. Several readers had expected a very feminine name after so many boys. Cameron is a traditional Scottish name used for both boys and girls, which fits a family based in Aberdeen.
A playful comment imagined Cameron's future small talk, explaining on a first date that she has ten older brothers. Humour like this ran through much of the discussion. It also reflects a real point: Cameron will grow up as the youngest by some distance in a very large sibling group.
Some readers joked about David's expression in the photos, suggesting he looked a little overwhelmed. In fact the couple said they were delighted by the surprise pregnancy. Posed group shots with eleven children rarely catch every face at its brightest.
Plenty of commenters simply sent congratulations. This one predicted that Cameron would be well protected by her big brothers and thoroughly spoilt. That matches what the parents described in the weeks after her birth.
Another reader picked up on the irony of finally having a girl after years of boys and then choosing a name more often given to boys. In Scotland, Cameron has long been a clan name and is given to children of either sex. The parents did not say publicly why they chose it.
This reaction zeroed in on the household numbers. Alexis said she did around 49 loads of washing a week and hoovered about seven times a day. Those figures were widely quoted in coverage of the family in September 2019.
Not every comment was friendly. This one suggested the children were raised at taxpayers' expense, a common assumption about large families. According to the family, David works as a train driver, they were not living on benefits, and his income meant they did not qualify for full child benefit.
A teasing comment predicted that one daughter would prove harder work than all ten sons put together. It is the sort of light-hearted stereotype parents of mixed families hear often. There is no evidence either way for the Bretts, whose daughter was only weeks old at the time.
Some readers turned the family's numbers into jokes about everyday costs. This one compared a fast-food order for thirteen people to the price of a new set of car tyres. Feeding a household of this size is a genuine budgeting challenge for any family.
Several comments pushed back against criticism by pointing to the facts reported. This reader noted that both parents work, the family does not rely on benefits and the children look happy. Alexis had said she planned to return to her job as a part-time fitness instructor.
The choice of name came up again and again. This commenter said she liked the name but had expected something more traditionally feminine. The debate shows how strongly people react to baby names, even for families they will never meet.
A warm message encouraged the parents to enjoy their children and pointed out that each of the eleven is an individual. It also mentioned the matching blue T-shirts in the photos. Alexis said she had never planned a large family but loved it now that she had one.
Another reader remarked, in good humour, that David did not look especially thrilled in the photographs. Online reactions often read a great deal into a single frame. The couple's own comments described joy and some exhaustion, which is typical for parents of a newborn.
The final comment shown combines congratulations with yet another question about the baby's name. It sums up the overall tone of the thread: affection for the family, a little teasing and lively debate about one small detail. Alexis said she was used to people commenting and that criticism did not bother her.
How unusual are ten boys in a row?
Slightly more boys than girls are born worldwide, at a natural ratio of about 105 boys for every 100 girls. If each birth is treated as an independent event with that probability, the chance of ten boys in a row works out at roughly 1 in 800. That is rare, but in a population of millions of families it is not astonishing.
Whether some couples are more likely to have children of one sex is still debated. Large population studies have not found a strong effect from birth order or the number of previous children, which suggests that, for most families, the sex of the next baby is close to a coin toss that is very slightly weighted towards boys.
A closing thought
Large families attract attention, curiosity and sometimes judgement. The Bretts' own account was simpler: a busy, working household that was surprised by one more baby and happy to welcome her. Details such as the children's ages describe the family in September 2019, and like any family they will have moved on since. Cameron is her own person rather than the end of a sequence, and her brothers, by all accounts, were thrilled to meet her.
Sources: Yahoo Lifestyle: Mum of 10 sons finally welcomes baby girl; Bored Panda; Wikipedia: Human sex ratio. Photos: Caters News Agency; comment screenshots from public Facebook reactions.
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