Paranoid I have made my baby too big!

[Martha200]

In theory I am 33 weeks, though todays appt had me measure full term .

At the beginnning there was some confusion over the dates but the 20 week scan showed all seemed to be correct for dates. Anyway, midwife having me for another scan just to check as it seems all baby and less fluid.

My first was 8lbs 15 and a half with plenty of fluid, but now I am feeling scared that they will tell me I have overeaten and made the baby the 'big' size.. is that possible.. I mean I know I like my marmite and toast at the moment.. I will die I think if I am the cause of this, am having a planned section too, so will be relieved when I know if the dates could be wrong.

Anyone else been told they are/were due big babies?

rofl at 'I have overeaten and made the baby big'

you do know that is just pregnancy madness don't you?

as if?

midwives can measure wrong tbh .. depends how baby is lying

when is your scan?

If your baby is big, it is not your fault and it is not due to what you have eaten. My brother grew very big (over 10 pounds when born), but my mum was sick all through the pregnancy. A baby takes what he/she needs, regardless of what you eat.

I would have thought they could determine the (rough) dates from scanning the baby and measuring his/her bones.

Message withdrawn

Well, with my ys my bump was mahussive and the amount of people asking me if I was due anyday when I was only 24 weeks at the time was freaking me out....I was soooooo big and people also often asked me if I was having twins or even triplets
Well...whilst my ys was the biggest of my 3, he wasn't really that big (8Ibs 7 1/2oz) and waterwise it wasn't that much....but I know he used to lay awkwardly....head and feet digging to my back and his bum to the front, that was probably partly what made me look so huge, lol!
I have come to the conclusion that scans aswell as human guesses are such rough estimates and usually rather wrong...
was told with my es, too, that I would have a really big baby, him being my first I was freaking out, of course....he was my smallest at 7Ibs 6oz, lol (I am 5'6 1/2, so, that was a normal size for me)

I ate lots with dd1 and she was 9lb 4oz, but with dd2 i ate because it was a mealtime and no other reason i put on hardly any weight but she was still 9lb 2oz i measured small for dates.

indeed, mellowma, twas i

i was told i measured 39 weeks at 29 weeks

was then under consultant care for the remainder of my pregnancy as baby consistently predicted to be on the 97th centile

out popped (i use 'popped' in the loosest of terms) ds2 at 39+3 weighing 7lbs 6oz

i was told ds was going to be big - he was 9lb 3 at 41wks.....and then when pg with dd was told she was bigger , yeah right- i didn't think so, on the way into theatre for what felt like a compulsory cs I said about 8lb consultant said about 10lb - out she came at just 8lb 1 at 40wks+12- don't believe all you are told

plus with both i ate normally when i could - first 25 weeks with DS i was sick sick sick

Thanks for the reassurance, I was just imagining the worst staff ever being rude when I go for this next scan as lots of strangers enjoy telling me how big I am(waiting to hear for the call today about scan) I don't mind seeing babe again, especially now as I've told myself to get over the bout of pregnancy madness thinking I had ultimate control over the size!!

lol tutter - and bit too!

I didn't have anything like that, but by week 28 everyone was saying ds would come early, I was so big, and in week 38 the MW started making that noise you usually only hear when the plumber/mechanic is about to tell you how much it is! I too was packed off to consultant, consultant midwife had a feel - ds was born 4 days before date at 8lbs 11.5oz. A lot of it was water - after 10hrs of labour I was STILL splashing some out with every contraction.

Its funny how predicting weight is so inexact. I had a really experienced consultant with DS (she was in her early 50's, so had been delivering babies for about 25 years and delivered 7 over the weekend I had DS). So its fair to say she had seen - oh - squillions.

She looked at me and said - Hmm - its a big one 10lbs plus I reckon. She then laughed and said it was extremely inexact and that even she couldn't tell (Ds was 8lbs2).

I think they can only tell whether the baby is big, medium or small basically. If the baby is looking big, their concern is gestational diabetes, not because they want to announce through the tannoy "look at the mahoosive heifer over here with no self control"!

Good luck!

If you eat too much YOU'LL put on weight, baby will take what it needs.

If you don't eat much, YOU'LL lose weight, baby will take what it needs.

I read somewhere that women during the war who were in concentration camps gave birth to average sized babies even though they were rake thin.

Anchovy - thanks for the serious laughs you have given me, how daft do I seem "If the baby is looking big, their concern is gestational diabetes, not because they want to announce through the tannoy "look at the mahoosive heifer over here with no self control"!" -

I can confidently say diabetes doesn't appear to be a concern, have fine urine samples, thanks again all

I was overweight myself before I got pregnant with ds, and lost quite a lot of weight ove the first few months because I only fancied fruit and vegetables. By the tiem he was born, I was only 6 lbs heavier than I had been before I got pregnant, and ds weighed 10lbs 6! So what you eat has absolutely nothing with the babies size. Oh, and my ds was born after a 2 hour labout and 7 minutes of pushing with no pain releif - so the size of the baby doesn't make much difference to the labour you have either!

This thread is reassuring I have to admit - I'm 36+4 and measuring consistently on the 95th centile - had a scan on monday which confirmed he is basically a big whopper - estimated foetal weight is currently 7lbs 7oz from both scan and fundal heigh measurement, so it's nice to know that he may not be that massive ;)

As for the eating thing...I'm sure if that was true, then there'd be loads of babies born that consist of 95% chocolate ice cream or curly-wurlies

Gosh yes, remember to use less baking powder next time, and prick evenly with a fork.

Seriously though - overeating doesn't make your baby huge - he will just be feeling very cosy and warm under all your rolls of flub

you would have to eat a helluva lot of marmite & toast for it to affect the baby's size in any way

well done for cooking a good 'un

Bless you, scans are not 100% accurate you know. I am a diabetic and diabetics are known for having big babies. They told me that ds was nearlty 9lb, but when he was born he was 1 off 7lb.
It is not an exact science, you know ,and nothing you have done - especially not marmite will have made that much difference.

Blimey it's a good job that you can't make your baby huge by overeating... dd would have been a whopper

I put on 4 stone whilst pregnant but dd was 7lb 12oz - bang on average.

If you had a biggish baby with lots of fluid last time then it seems likely that this is what's ahppening again.

Measurement of fundal height has little to do with the size of the baby - so much so in fact that many midwives, mine included, don't bother any more.

LOL at Anchovy's tannoy.

Waves at Twiglett - long time no see.
Sorry for hijack.

I was told DS would be huge approx 10lbs was the guess, he was 8lb 7.5oz, I was told DD was tiny, she was 5lb 1.5 at 32 weeks
So they got them the wrong way round with me!

agree with eveyone else. i had the opposite problem of ds being small - and was worried that my not eating enough had caused it. baby will take what it needs - no more, no less.

Mine was huge - 10lb 11oz - but also top centile for height, abdo & head circumference, etc, so perfectly proportioned. I'd had scans which suggested she was going to be big. Did have one mw who insisted on weighing me and working out my BMI at 34 weeks! She was sucking her teeth and muttering, I started to cry, and then she said, what are you crying about? Left feeling all miserable, but thankfully our consultant was sitting at a desk outside - I wailed "I'm huge!!" - he took my chart, looked at it, handed it back. "You're big because you're having a big baby. Go home and put your feet up".

And she is still bigger than her peers, but still perfectly proportioned (getting a little thinner now she's more active) and so so cuddly!

How horrid Habbibu with the mw who wanted to work out the BMI

As an update, went and had the scan today, there appears to be LOADS of fluid in there and the head circ. was over 95th centile and the body just under (at 33 weeks) so due date not changed, just the realisation that (i) yes I do need this section not having a repeat of big headed child forcing the emergency section experience again and (ii)I can relax faced with the rational explanation of my hugeness and sod every stranger who thinks I am going to drop today/tomorrow

Good job I did have another scan, because it also came to light that I am not in the system for another consultation appt. and Xmas week in theory was the week I would be seeing someone about my elective section, well I would have been waiting unsuccessfully for that appt to come through! All sorted now, roll on the 19th for the news of the 'day'.

I was told I was having a turkey...huge they said..at least 10lbs
Ds was 7lb 2oz