baby measuring below 10th percentile! is there hope :(

[blessednay]

Hello this is my first post. Im just very worried and hope for a little reassurance. I am currently 33 weeks and had another scan at 30 weeks which showed they baby was small on the 10th percentile. I then had a scan at 32 weeks and although he has grown he is still on that line!! So now i have to come in for weekly CPG movement and doppler scans!! Ive had one CPG check and he was brilliant with movement. The lady said my fluid levels are brilliant and blood to and from placenta is fine so what can be wrong?? Did anyone else go through similar and was ur baby fine? Thats all i really need to know to feel more at ease!

Hi, I have not had this experience, but all it means to be on tenth centile is that only ten percent of babies at same gestational age would be smaller. In a normal distribution some babies have to be in that ten percent! I would assume the main issue is that baby is growing proportionately. Hope someone else can be more helpful. Hope all goes well.

First question- how big are you and DH? My SIL was worried sick because her babies were small, and they were small at birth(5 and 5.5 lbs). They are still small now, grown up but the boy is 5'5 and the girl 5.0'.
This is not surprising because both sil and my db are small too.
So if you re petite, chances are your baby will be too.
However I'm not a medic, keep getting checked if the hospital say you need to.

Might be nothing wrong :)

10th percentile is still normal, just that 90% are bigger. 10% are smaller though...

Good that they are checking. Are you and the babies father small? Scan sizes are notoriously innacurate too :)

Hi, I was in your exact position several weeks ago. Baby's growth had slowed right down on ultrasounds and from 30 weeks onwards he constantly measured below the 10th centile and didn't appear to grow much from then. I had twice weekly dopplers and CTGs which showed the cord working too hard but placenta was unaffected. I was told to be extra vigilant on baby's movements as reduced movements can signal that baby is in distress and not getting the nutrients required hence poor growth. It was a worrying few weeks and I was obsessed with monitoring his movements from then on. His movements became reduced on numerous occasions from 32 weeks onwards so I was induced at 36+5. My little boy was born 2 weeks ago weighing a healthy 5lb 10oz with no problems and we were home 24 hours later.

10th percentile is still within normal limits!

Both my babies were on the small side all the way through pregnancy. I'm 5ft 8" and DH is 6ft. Both of us were in the low 6lb range when born so I expected the same of mine.
DS1 was 6lb 5oz and dS2 6lb. Both only 46cms.

I had bed rest for a week or so with both to give them a little chance to catch up but OBGYN wasn't overly concerned about them.

I was just instructed to eat ridiculously nutritious foods every 3 hours to keep "feeding" the baby but my problem was that I was never hungry during pregnancy.

Try not to worry too much, it's easy for me to say I know but if they are keeping an eye on you with actual scans rather than that stupid measuring tape malarkey, then at least you can be relatively reassured each time you see them on screen, especially if you continue to track upwards.

Following a centile means growing normally.

I am on the 5th centile and like to feel that there is hope for me yet!

Mine was born on the 9th. He is perfectly healthy. The important thing is that baby is following the curve. Ignore the number.

There doesn't have to be anything 'wrong'. Some babies (10% lol) are smaller than others. They will be keeping an eye on you to make sure that everything remains fine, and they can take action if your placenta has issues within good time.

If it helps, my first was over the 90th centile and they did exactly the same thing. Trekking in to hospital every other day for scans was a glorious pita.

All babies are different sizes. Yours is within normal range. Mine was within normal range. They just keep a closer eye on the outliers to make sure there isn't anything else going on, and if there is, they can help ensure a safe outcome for everyone.

10th percentile is fine OP. Fwiw DS was delivered by CS at 37 weeks because scans showed he was very small. He was 4lbs 2ozs and it was 2 weeks before he was even on the scale (at 0.5 of a percentile) And you know what? Besides a short stay in special care to stabalise his blood sugars he was still fine! He's 3 and a half now and still very short and slight but completely normal. He's on course to be a perfectly normal short man.

Hello OP, I used to be a midwife "(used to be" so my info may be out of date).

In my experience hospitals tend to worry more about babies that weigh less often because they cannot always pinpoint why. Note that this weight could be completely normal for your baby though so there may be no reason he/she is smaller.

The approach of hospitals is often to keep a strict eye on the growth of the baby with the option of an early delivery if there are any problems detected.

Not sure how big your or your husband are but some babies are small and so are their parents.

My consultant told me last week that the concern is if you're not following the same centile. If you have sharp decline to lower centiles it can be a sign the placenta isn't working effectively. As long as you're tracking the 10th centile surely that's all going well for your baby. As pps said, it's normal and 10% are smaller! X

My DD was born on the 3rd percentile she's just a petite little thing. She's a full of energy 4yr old now.

Are you and your partner small? Could just be that.

My experience is that they don't worry really unless the baby dips below 5th centile (they start worrying about iugr)

Some people are small, I'm teeny, probably on the 10th centile for height anyway.

They are watching you carefully by the sounds of things. Please try not to worry (I know that's easier said than done)

My baby was born at 35+5 and has been following 9th centile. She's doing well and was over her birth weight within 2 weeks. I think they only worry if it starts to fall to lower centiles.

I had pre eclampsia and my baby was born at 36+3 on the 9th centile. He's now one and has caught right up!

Thank you all soo much with ur comments! I have read everyone and i must say it makes me feel so reassured!! The issue i have is they are not telling me this, they just keep giving me extra checks without any info as to why!? My mum had this with her first and he was 6.6lb so it might be hereditary. I will certainly remain calm and just see what happens thank u again!!! X

I just went to the doctor today and my baby is less then the 10 percentile 8% im 30 weeks today and my baby only weights 2 pounds 12 ounces i took all the test and everything came back normal but now the baby is to small and they want to do more test im so scared they want me to see a high risk doctor and get an ultrasound every week and do more test i was 110 before i got pregnant and now i weight 160 so im gaining weight never had this problem before i have 2 boys already and i dont want nothing to happen to this one did anyone else have these problems and is my baby going to leave they may want to take him out early so scared