Growth Scan

[Bellsx]

Does anyone know the reason why they choose to do the growth scan at 36 weeks in pregnancy please? Does this not leave it too late if anything is wrong as obviously most women had their last scan at 20 weeks and yes I know we get measured at our midwife appointments but I've read a lot of people say that these aren't really very accurate.

[Sully84]

I think they do growth scans at any stage if the midwife measures your bump as out of the expected range. I would guess that having a larger baby may make them decide to induce sooner rather than let it go over your due date for too long for example. However even the scans can be very inaccurate.


I had several growth scans through the latter half of my pregnancy and was predicted a big baby, he came out at 7lb 11oz! Luckily I had a growth scan at 38 weeks where they picked up he was footling breech, I went into labour that night (before a schedule appointment the following morning to attempt to turn him), and knowing the risks made sure we got to the hospital quickly and the hospital were prepare for our situation.
I just saw each scan as a chance to have another look at the baby.

[TenThousandSpoons0]

If you’re high risk of growth problems they usually scan earlier and then repeat the scans every 4 weeks or so. If lower risk, some places don’t offer scans at all after 20 weeks (unless there’s a problem with fundal height measurements or something else). Places that do offer routine third trimester scans for lower risk women are doing it to try to detect growth restriction - and themost common type of growth restriction is late onset, so you wouldn’t detect it and may just be falsely reassured if scanning before 36ish weeks. Hope that helps :)

[laurelhedge]

I think it's just to make sure there are unlikely to be problems with a too large baby.