Predicting birth weight from your growth charts- how accurate?

[missmargot]

I'm 37+3 and at my last midwife appointment she looked at my measurements and a matrix on my hospital notes and told me they expect my baby to weigh around 5lb 12oz. My last scan was 3 weeks ago and they said the baby weighed around 5lb then.

Does anyone know how accurate these birth weight predictions are? I assume they are based on not going overdue?

That sounds very small if thebaby was already five pounds a few weeks ago. Are you sure she was not guessing the current weight? It is usual for babies to grow up to half a pound a week towards the end. Are you measuring small for dates?

To be honest in my experience the growth scans aren't very accurate. I know very few people whose babies have been within say 5oz either side of the estimate, at least. It is hard not to read too much into it though

I was told to prepare for the possibility of needing a c-section by my midwife as, based on my fundal height and the fact that I am quite short(!), they thought I was having a 10lb-er. I did question the accuracy of measuring the bump as my measurements seemed to change all the time, in the end 3 weeks ago I had my daughter and she weighed 7lb 2oz, so not as huge as they said!

my baby was 500g more than expected . . .

My sister in law has diabetes so had loads of extra scans with both her pregnancys.
First one with midwifed extimated and scan measurements baby was estimated to be 10 pounds plus so she was induced 2 weeks early. Baby was just 5 pounds 1 ounce.
Second time baby was estimated by scan and midwife measurements to be 12 pounds plus so again baby brought 2 weeks early and he weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces !!
Both almost had to spend time in nicu due to being undercooked !

I was told that estimates had a 1 pound either ways. Just before induction, I was estimated at 7.5 lbs - and was told I was measuring big for 38 weeks. DD was 6 pounds 11... So tolerance was right, "measuring big" wasn't. The tolerance is a huge range for a baby tho...

That's really interesting. I am guessing that the scan is more accurate than the midwife's measurement. According to my growth chart I am slightly small but within the realms of normal. I have to say this baby feels like 20lb right now, not 5lb....

I had a scan today to check the placenta and I got told baby at the moment was roughly 5lb 12 oz, I was wondering the same tbh, how accurate is this. I have another 3 1/2 weeks to go