36 weeks and baby is small. Any advice?

[Chi2011]

I am 36.5 days and I was referred for a growth scan as my baby is measuring small. The scan showed that despite normal amniotic fluid and placenta supply is normal my baby only weighs 5lbs and they stated that there was no point in keeping her in the womb up to full term of 40 weeks as she was not getting enough nutrients so they may induce me. I have heard that if they induce you labour is more painful and I am so worried that she is so small that something bad will happen. Any advice?

I'd ask for a 2nd opinion tbh. For lots of reasons. If they can't find any actual problems with the placenta/blood flow, the baby etc, I'd question what evidence there is to suggest your baby is actually small. Scans are notoriously inaccurate in estimating weight and given that the baby can gain 1lb a week in the last few weeks, then 5lbs at 36 weeks doesn't sound that small to me. Plus, how big are you? How big is your partner? Not all people have the average 7lber.

Have they mentioned size before? Can they look at close monitoring to establish if there really is something happening (ie v regular scans) and then make a decision based on that as opposed to what I assume is fundal height and one scan in isolation.

Induction isn't necessarily anything to worry about. Some people have lovely, easy inductions. But if your baby's really not ready to be born it can sometimes be a bit of a slog to get things started.

At 36 weeks they estimated dd at 7lb. She was born at 36+1 weighing 8lb. The scans aren't always right. Agree with everything SOH says

Hi just thought I would say I had the same with dd1 they wanted to do the same at 37weeks I really didn't want to be induced as wanted to have her bt the local birth centre. They did a scan where view measure the blood flow to the placenta which was ok so they agreed with a little pushing from me to wait a Bit I was making sure I monitored movement etc. Dd1 arrived at 39weeks exactly weighing 5lb9 and completely healthy. She is 5 now and perfectly petite and still light. I honestly think she is naturally light nothing else hth