small baby?

[emilie89]

I think I may be being paranoid and over sensitive but I am worried about the size of my baby.

I am a few days off 20 weeks and have quite a small bump. I wasn't worried until I told a woman at work that I was almost 5 months pregnant and she pulled a horrified/shocked face and said "oh well that's going to be a small baby!!"

I'm now concerned that when I go to my anomaly scan in 3 weeks time, the baby will be smaller than it should be and that this could either mean there is something wrong or that I haven't been doing a good enough job of keeping my baby healthy.

Am I being ridiculous? Are you meant to be huge at 20 weeks?

I am 21 and this is my 1st baby...

iwas 20 when i had my first.i was constantly told she was too small and had lots of extra scans.my dd weighed in at 6lbs 3oz and was absolutely fine and healthy.dont worry everything will be fine.

My friend had a little boy last Monday and had been told by her midwife that she was measuring small and would have a small baby. He was 7lbs 9oz! and is perfect!

Everyone is different so try not to worry.

Congratulations btw

ignore your colleague as she is talking bollocks (unless she has x-ray vision). pregnant women come in all shapes and sizes.

in my fist preg, i looked 6 months at 9 months but my baby was 6.3 pounds. perfectly normal. i am normally a size 6-8 and so that explains my tiny bump. i am currently 16 weeks and MW measured my bump as being spot on even though I am not sure how given that I am hardly showing again.

i too was worried but heard heart beat on monday and have not had any negative symptoms.

You are probably not having a small baby at all, but a completely average sized one, but you are young and probably slim and it's your first baby. And you will find out that people LOVE to comment on the size of your bump, making you paranoid for no reason. Ignore the woman at work, or make some reference to your age/weight/fantastic stomach muscles. Is she overweight?

Presumably at your mw appointments your uterus was measuring right? Good luck with your scan!

Yes, I agree with domestic goddess. People will comment throughout. Ignore them unless good, of course. She is prob just envious.

Also, you will wake up one morning with a bump and wonder how that happened!

I met someone yesterday who is 4 months PG (I'm nearly 6) who has an ENORMOUS bump, mine is non-existant. Everyone is different, and everyone carries babies differently.
I know from experience that I carry biggish babies, I just don't show it til later on!

Don't worry!!!

I am now on my third pregnancy, for both of the other two I was constantly told my bump was too small and got sent for extra growth scans etc. The sonographer would always look at me and sigh, and say "Well whoever sent you here has no common sense, you are small so they cannot expect you to have massive babies".

Both of my babies were around 6lb, but perfectly healthy. Interestingly, I ended up becoming friends with someone opposite me in hospital who had a baby on the same day as my DS, mine was 6lb, hers was 11lb (ouch!) but within a month or so they were both the same size/weight. So don't worry, it will all be fine!

haha, domestic goddess, she isn't overweight but I do know that her daughter (who is due a couple of months before me) is a bit of a lump and I presume she is comparing me to her. i just wish that people would keep their stupid comments to themselves, this woman also called me a "silly cow" when I told her I was pregnant!

my 12 week scan was fine, the baby was the perfect size, plus I heard the heartbeat a week ago and that was also fine. also i know that i wasn't much more than 6 pounds when i was born and all my grandmother's children were around 5 pounds, we were all healthy babies/children so maybe my family are just prone to small babies.

Thanks for the kind and reassuring comments.

Ignore her. From all the stories I've read on here someone will tell you your bump is tiny and the next person along will tell you it's HUGE and you must be having twins.

Opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one and most stink.

You are young and probably have very good abdominal muscles. I didn't buy any maternity clothes at all for my first and most people didn't realise I was pregnant. Loads of people told me I was having a small baby including the midwife. DD weighed 7lb 10oz.

psml @ Muser I'm going to remember that quote!

DW's best friend keeps telling her that she is huge. The MW measured her last week (26 weeks) and she's 1cm above average so exactly within the normal range.

Most people know f**k all about how big a bump should be.

with my little boy 2 years ago i went to 42 weeks and even then i was wearing size 8 normal jeans, my tummy looked nothing more than bloated, people kept saying to me well thats the smallest pregnant belly ive ever seen, but he was born weighing 6ib 110z, i put it down to having good tummy muscles and i was 18 when i gave birth, even this time round im 13 weeks instead of gaining a few pounds ive gone the other way lost weight and quite abit too, still dont have 1 bit of a belly. every person is different just because you have a small belly doesnt mean your baby will be small, ignore the stupid woman

I wouldn't worry - I don't think I had a bump at all at 20 weeks, baby was right size and I think this is very common for a first pregnancy. I went to a barbecue a few days before the scan and no-one would have guessed I was pregnant if I hadn't told them. It was perhaps more obvious without clothes on!
I first got measured at my 28-week midwife appointment, who sent me for a growth scan as the measurement was below the bottom percentile - only for the scan to reveal the baby was the right size for its dates.