How accurate is fundal height measurement...

[Elderfleurs]

...and if it's really as inaccurate as people say, why do they still use it?

It's not the most accurate in the world but for GD it can be used to see if there is crazy growth etc.

Mine has actually been spot on right through this pregnancy and I'm a curvy girl so if the midwife is experienced enough it should be a basic correct measurement.

Will defo find out by Sunday as I'm getting induced tomorrow.

mavy thank you and best of luck! I'm very curious as I'm measuring above 90th percentile...

I think it's most useful if done by the same midwife each time, and looked at as a measure of whether you are growing steadily, rather than the specific % you're on. In a previous pregnancy I had a different midwife for one appointment, and when I went for my next appointment with my normal midwife I measured comparatively small, but she looked at who had done my previous measurement and commented that "she always measures big".

Mine were way out with both my (reasonably) successful pregnancies. Dd1 was measuring 24 weeks at 32 and I had emcs for pre eclampsia, IUGR and placental abruption. Expected weight 1.2lb actual weight 3.4lb. Dd2 was other end of estimated weights, told to expect over 10lb and Vbac risky, she was induced and appeared vaginally at 6lb 13 on due date.

Any measurement system is only as reliable as the process itself, which when you think this is basically a person measuring two points on your body with a tape measure weeks and weeks apart....and this is often not the same person!
It’s highly dependant on the person doing the measuring but also the position of the baby can affect it, mine tends to stay back but one time he was pushed right out in a weird oblique position and my height was accelerated.
I’ve had scans since and he is still consistent so even the midwife said, most likely the position.

They still use it as for the most part it is a ‘good’ reasonablilty test, as in it will highlight anything which may need further checks - it’s obvs a lot cheaper to send the occasional lady for a scan than scan everyone multiple times, hence it still being used. It’s not the be all and end all basically!

It’s not that accurate.

But it is useful even though it’s a crude measure. A fundal height which drops off the curve or leaps up the curve is a trigger to look more closely with more accurate methods to see if there are issues. So it might trigger an ultrasound of the placenta and vessels, glucose testing, looking for growth restriction or acceleration etc.

I measured big last pregnancy (I’m short, ain’t nowhere for baby to go but out) and had a baby that was 6lb something when we left hospital. This time I’m measuring dead on average but to me the bump feels bigger and the babyvis lying differently.

I live in Germany and there’s no tape measure wielding midwives over here!

I can’t see it being terribly reliable unless, as others have said above, you have the same midwife each time. I understand it’s a cost issue for the NHS though.

My midwife (same one each time) has been measuring me at the 95th centile. If I stayed on that curve I was looking at a very big baby! However today I've had a scan at 36+1 for a separate issue and the estimated weight is on the 65th centile. I definitely haven't started shrinking so I think the tape measure estimates have been a bit generous

Not very if my last pregnancy was anything to go by. Sent twice for growth scans as no increase in fundal height. Baby was born at dead on term at 9.7lbs

It's not accurate. I have had different HCPs measure me nearly every time putting me on different centiles. However as I was booked in for two growth scans just before I started being measured I knew to ignore them. The only real advantage of me being measured is to give trainee HCPs some practise.