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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Red book "months old" aren't 4 weeks?

44 replies

squizita · 19/01/2015 20:10

Just wondering how they're calculated.

DD has some jabs tomorrow so I got out the red book. Looked at the growth charts idly as you do when your little pocket rocket only gains 1 lb a month no matter what and noticed that the month markers don't fall every 4 weeks. They're slightly longer.
Eg at 17 weeks I think of dd as 4 months old +, but in the red book she's only just getting there.

I suppose it only matters in terms of surveys. Even with weaning you'd be a week out max.

I can't tell from the graph exactly how many days in an nhs month.
Can anyone enlighten me?

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squizita · 20/01/2015 13:07

Showy I don't let that hv plot percentiles without someone else checking now. :)

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TarkaTheOtter · 20/01/2015 13:08

But did they call them "monthly" appointments or did you just assume they were? In my case they just said appts at 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks etc. you don't tend to have monthly appts in pregnancy because they count everything in weeks.

OhFrabjousDay · 20/01/2015 13:09

Well in that case, your HV is weird and wrong! Your dc won't have had the jabs early though as they are scheduled in weeks, not months.

BertieBotts · 20/01/2015 13:10

They probably just meant "around four months". 16 weeks would be 112 days which is slightly less than a week short of 4 months. Would you rather they had said she's 3.6842105 months old instead?

squizita · 20/01/2015 13:10

Tarka I think X post but yes she said things like 16 weeks ... oh 4 months today!

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TarkaTheOtter · 20/01/2015 13:13

Yes xpost. I think you just had a rogue idiot then.

squizita · 20/01/2015 13:21

Well 8 feel like the trusting little lamb now don't I!! Duh.

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squizita · 20/01/2015 13:22

I think she's just not that numerate after the "can't put a dot on a graph" incident.

DH says to insist on seeing the manager hv every time.

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MrsHathaway · 20/01/2015 13:25

I agree, rogue idiot.

And why wouldn't you trust a trained professional doing her job? Life would be exhausting otherwise.

But yy to jabs at 8w,12w,16w even though that doesn't match months. It matches clinics.

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 20/01/2015 13:31

Don't worry about the jabs as they're measured in weeks anyway. DD had hers at 8, 12 and 16 weeks. It isn't until the 1 year ones that they stop doing them in weeks.
Also think you had a rogue HCP. Although my HV plotted DD's weight wrong twice on the graph then got annoyed when the Dr corrected it!

Showy · 20/01/2015 13:33

You see, I'm a bit of a rogue idiot too. If somebody asked me how pregnant I was or how old the baby was, I always approximated and used months. Because for vast swathes of people (particular of my generation and older), months tend to 'mean' something or you can relate it to your own experience. If you told me your baby was 29 weeks, I'd sort of nod and do a calculation perhaps. If you said 7 months, I'd know where I was. I can picture my own dc at 7 months as it's easy to say oh yes 7 months was Christmas time for dd. I also felt ridiculously precious using weeks instead of months outside of medical settings.

I'm old though. If you tell me a baby is 3.5 kilos, I have no idea what this might mean in terms of averages. If you say 7 and a half pounds, I know your baby was a good, healthy, average weight.

The dating pregnancy thing is interesting too. It was once months. Women had 'monthlies'. Pregnancy was dated using 'monthlies'. Women expected a 9 month pregnancy. Counting in weeks is normal now that we know so much about baby development and can actually scan and test for what's happening. But if you told my 90yo grandmother you were 31 weeks pregnant, she'd ask how many months.

OhFrabjousDay · 20/01/2015 13:38

Working in months in general terms is not being a rogue idiot. It's the using 4 weeks = 1 month exactly that's where the HV has gone so wrong - eg. '16 weeks - 4 months today!' You'd know that's not what a month means I'd think.

Redling · 20/01/2015 14:01

I think the main thing to remember though is that it doesn't really matter. If for example your clinic ran every Monday, they would say see you in 4 weeks because within that following week it would be a month... If you get what I mean? So they could say come in four weeks because then they'll see you a few days before or after the actual month. I assume it's nothing more sinister then that when they generalise.

Redling · 20/01/2015 14:03

I mean I assume that's why like you said squizita your consultants would say see you in 4 weeks for example! I can't say I've ever looked that closely at the Red book graph, I thought it was in weeks?

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 21/01/2015 15:58

She didn't start her jabs early though, did she, if you thought they were two, three and four months. What they actually are is 8, 12 and 16 weeks (i.e. just under the month markers each time). So don't worry about that bit.

I think part of the confusion is that people round. So they often say that they've had the 'three month scan', when in a lot of areas it's at 12 weeks. Which then means that it seems ages from then until they are four months pregnant, which doesn't happen until past 17 weeks! A month that's over 5 weeks long!!

Did your HCPs actually call them monthly appointments, or did they say that they'd "see you again next month" (i.e. in four weeks, which is approximately four weeks)?

squizita · 21/01/2015 16:23

Penguins yep unfortunately one innumerate hv referred to her as 4 month 2 weeks ago at 16 weeks. It was during a chat about weaning. She's plotted the growth chart wrong before. Lovely lady, just very authoritative with poor maths it seems.

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PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 21/01/2015 16:25

Sorry - I meant the consultants. Did they actually talk about four weekly appointments as monthly during pregnancy?

squizita · 21/01/2015 17:24

One or two did say "you'l be past 3 months..." but I wonder if this was a psychological boost as I was under the recurrent miscarriage clinic so it sounded "safer". Ie just being nice! It would also have been 3 months since implantation/commencing my meds (2 weeks after last period) which is relevant to my treatment. So there may have been crossed wires - the trouble was it was a real conveyer belt ... wait 2 hr, scan, 5 min with consultant ... perfect conditions for them to assume I knew they meant something when they meant another.

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squizita · 21/01/2015 17:26

Except it wouldn't would it? It would be even shorter. I think they were being upbeat as I was worried.

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