To decline growth scans

[Orangepen13]

First child born slightly below 5lb 5oz so I have been offered three extra growth scans (28,32,36 weeks) in my current pregnancy

Ive heard so many inaccuracies with growth scans that can sometimes result in lots of panic, so I’m inclined to decline them. AIBU? And what are others experience of growth scans?

for context, I’m petite and my partner is also fairly lean, and first was born at 37+6 so we’re not surprised at all that she was small

I had growth scans with both of mine for different reasons.

With my eldest, everything was fine on the scans but I was still induced a tad early as baby had many periods of not moving. They were perfectly fine, they were slightly smaller than predicted at birth but perfectly healthy.

With my youngest, we had routine scans booked anyway but they were measuring small for gestational age, which was a concern as I have a health condition requiring medication which can cause failure to thrive or stillbirth. Baby continued to be monitored and grew at a steady rate, baby was born at exactly their predicted weight (they were small but healthy) - baby shot straight up to the 99th centile after birth and is now huge.

In my case, both times they were accurate within a couple of oz

Take the scans…. But then don’t panic!!! I ended up with extra scans with my second pregnancy. Everytime they picked up some different. So the first one was because the stomach was measuring small. The follow up the stomach was now fine but there was lots of pools showing the in placenta so had a follow up. The next one the pools were ok but …… and so on and so on. I enjoyed seeing my child a lot and knowing everything was being closely monitored but it didn’t panic me.

You’d be an idiot, to be honest. And if something happened to your pregnancy you’d never forgive yourself.

DOI - growth scan picked up baby wasn’t growing and placenta failing. No previous risk factors, previous healthy pregnancy. He would be dead if they’d not checked.

Would scans not check the viability of placenta too?

My son would have died if I hadn't had a growth scan when I did. Thankfully he's now 12

I had extra scans with both my pregnancies for various reasons. I did everything they offered, even though I was pretty confident everything was ok. But as someone else said, if I didn’t and something happened I would have never have forgiven myself and I loved all the extra times I got to see my baby before they were born!

YABU. You’d be a fool not to take them.

I had growth scans with my first and have been offered them with my second so will be taking them
up on the offer.

Personally, I doubt growth scans to be very reassuring. I know everyone is different but I’m also very petite but was having a very large baby for my frame. The growth scans were incredibly accurate for me. They even told me the predicted weight of my baby and were bang on 100% correct for my dd.

I know they can’t always be accurate and there’s a level of doubt but if a medical professional thinks it’s for the best then I’d follow their advice.

I had extra scans with my first pregnancy and I liked them as it was a chance to see the baby. In my case though there were no issues.

I had them as DS1 was 8lbs (at term) and DS2 was 5lbs 10 at 38wks. DD was fine, but no I wouldn’t have declined

Would it be greatly inconvenient for you to take them? If not I think it's always worth it on the off chance that they prove beneficial for you or baby ❤️

Then again I had follow up scans as a result of an 8th percentile baby and ended up giving birth to a 7lbs 11oz girl so 🤷🏼‍♀️

My main concern is being pushed into an induction that might actually be unnecessary. But taking on all your previous experiences!

As long as the baby is growing "on their curve" whatever that is, and not rapidly dropping percentiles/in distress the doctor shouldn't try to induce. Mine was dropping percentiles rapidly, and between 1-3% and they did everything in their power to keep him in until 37 weeks, they did not want to get him until absolutely necessary. Getting a few sneaky peaks at the baby, and knowing that they are ok is worth it's weight in gold. If mine hadn't made it and I had knowingly said no to the monitoring I would find it really hard to forgive myself. Your body, your choice though.

My child was born with problems that I had no prior warning of.
If I had the chance to have my baby checked a little more often, I'd personally take it in case they were able to pick up on something.

You're not unreasonable though I don't think.
You do what feels right for your situation.

I’d take them. If you don’t want to be induced just decline it.

The scans cost the nhs money (or insurance company if you are overseas)

they don’t want to waste money so there must surely be some clinical evidence that these scans are reliable and can prevent problems from having a more serious outcome. I would on that basis have the tests.

if they came back and said the baby was measuring a little small and they proposed this treatment option, you can then speak to them about your concerns and alternatives?

i wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t have them, something went wrong and it could potentially have been foreseen if I had had the additional scans.

Sounds a very sensible compromise. The reason they offer them is because they found many stillborn babies were very small for their gestational age and they found if they managed to detect these babies during pregnancy and investigate further they were able to significantly reduce the stillbirth rate. They look at the rate of growth, blood flow through the cord and liquor volume too and altogether it gives a better picture as to whether baby is just small or whether there might be more going on

They don't offer them for fun. They offer them because they increase the chance of a successful outcome for want of a better way of putting it.

I definitely would accept them. Sure take the growth with a pinch of salt but definitely doesn't hurt to keep an eye on other issues which could present a cause for concern.

Like others have said you don't need to take any action if intervention if recommended but at least you'd be fully informed.

I had growth scans fortnightly from 28 weeks, alternating between two hospitals, one locally one fortnight, a specialist hospital 60 miles away (for me, not baby), the following fortnight.

I did it because I couldn't have lived with myself if anything had happened that I could have potentially prevented.

I would definitely take the scans. All information is beneficial and you can make an informed choice then.

The NHS wouldn’t offer extra anything if it wasn’t deemed necessary for your or your baby’s health. I don’t get why you wouldn’t.

I’d take them.

I’ll probably get flamed for this but, in my experience, the only people who don’t listen to the advice of medical professionals have been lucky enough to sail through pregnancies and labour. Having had an emergency section after my baby was in distress, I will never decline one or an induction or monitoring. The toxic positivity of the hypnobirthing course I did resulted in me feeling like I could have done something differently when it really is just luck. But thank God that passed quickly and I was so relieved to have my eldest, regardless of how they were born.

I'd never decline a scan