Small For Dates

[shanks313]

Hi,

I went for my 32 week scan today and we was told that the babys measurements are showing as small.
They checked the blood flow and that was normal,the baby is about 3lb at the moment.
The consultant said that its either a naturally tiny baby or the placenta isnt doing its job properly somewhere.

Just wondered if anybody else has any experiences they could share?

Thanks

My mate was told thie throughout her preganancy ... baby was 7 lbs at term (ie totally, boringly normal) - they don't always get it right...

hmm, my first mw said all was measuring well, nice big bump .. going to have baby at least 7lb etc .. she came out 5lb 13oz with legs so skinny i was afraid i'd snap them when changing her nappy!

Hi Shanks.

As funnypeculiar says, they don't always get it right.

With me they did, and so hopefully its useful for me to share my experience. I was monitored from 22 weeks for a small baby - they weren't sure whether she was just naturally small (as DH and I are) or if there was a problem. I was scanned every 4 weeks then 2 with special scans towards the end to check for blood flow.

At 37 weeks I went in for a scan and this showed that dd hadn't grown really since my scan at 35 weeks. I was then admitted to be induced. My blood pressure was taken and this was found to be raised so more need to be induced. They took about 24 hours to start to induce me (due to a bed crisis in SCBU in case it was needed). In my case, induction didn't work although they tried pretty much everything and I ended up with a c-sec.

DD was born at 4 lbs 9 oz but was absolutely fine and healthy. She went to SCBU for about 2 hours after about 5 hours just to get her body temperature up but then was fine and proceeded to put on weight like me over christmas !! She is about to turn 2 and has absolutely no associated problems and is now pretty much average in terms of size.

Presumably you are booked for another scan ? They won't do anything about getting the baby out unless its really necessary and they'll leave it as long as possible.

What I've found since is that it is extremely common. I keep meeting people who had a similar problem - its a great way to make friends .

Good luck, and keep us posted - adn if there's any questions you want to ask feel free.

Thanks for your comments

Wheelybug-good to know there are people around with similar experiences.I have to return in 2 weeks for another scan but the consultant said that if baby seems quiet before then to go back earlier.
I have been feeling very worried about it

Message withdrawn

Don't worry too much, I was diagnosed as small for dates at 28 weeks (did have a tiny bump), my dp and I are both tall though quite slim people and there was absolutely no reason we've ever been able to find for why this happened. I was scanned constantly from then on. The scans showed the baby was still growing and when she was born at 38 weeks, she was just over 5lbs, ie she was tiny but she was healthy with good Apgars. The first few weeks were a bit worrying as we waited for her to gain weight (I was bfing though under a lot of pressure not to which I happily resisted), it was always clear she was thriving and now at almost two she seems an average size (haven't had her weighed for ages), very active and imho perfect in every way!I was probably naive as I never really worried about this, probably because the baby moved so much also a friend was going through a horrendous pregnancy and most of my emotional energies were focused on her. But if the hospital is monitoring you, I'm sure you'll be just fine

Their margin of error for guessing the baby's weight from a scan is about a lb either way. There are always stories of people being pushed into a cs because the baby is "too big" or an induction because the baby is "too small". Then the baby comes out and hey presto, it is 7 or 8 lbs.

Small babies are another variation of normal. Dd was born on the 2nd centile and is still on it, aged 4. But she was a gram under their "aagh, too small!" alert number and they gave me loads of hassle about it. They wanted to do extra scans when I got pg again because "your first child was IUGR". (growth restricted). Err no, she is just small.

My SIL is pg now and keeps getting diff mws and consultants tell her - alternately - that the baby is "too big", "too small" and "not growing" and "ooh, growing". I imagine they have growth spurts before they're born too...

I think the point to worry is if they are sure that the baby has completely stopped growing.

My darling dd was induced at 37 weeks and although she weighed only 5lb and measured only 47cm she was fit and healthy. She is now 2 year old and is currently on the 50th centile for both height and weight. I understand how worrying this can be as all the scans I had later on in my pregnancy showed that she was small for term. Remember not all babies are supposed to be 9 pounders.

Hi Shanks - try not to worry although I remember its far easier said than done. I think if they are not scanning you for another 2 weeks they obviously don't think there is an immediate problem.

I remember being at work towards the end (so about 36 weeks ish) and being absolutely paranoid about movements to the extent I was in tears over it. As soon as I mentioned it to the doctors in a 'I think I'm probably being paranoid but..' they whipped me off for loads of monitoring an dI missed by leaving do at work . What I mean by that is they will take everything you say seriously so if you're worried just tell them and they can check all is fine. Which it probably will be.

As you can see from this thread - a lot of the time they are wrong about size and even if not, now that its been spotted it really shouldn't be a problem. I was amazed by some of the things the consultants told me about how the baby detects the problem and the blood flow gets directed to where it is needed most for the baby to develop (hence why they look at blood flows). Apparently IUGR tend to come out pretty robust because of what tehy've been through.