Midwife says baby measuring small

[17december2021]

At my last midwife appointment my midwife said my bump was measuring approx a week small... she asked me to come back in 3 weeks and if it's the same I'll get sent for a scan to check?

I asked the midwife if she is worried and she said no but now she's got me panicked as why say anything otherwise? Isn't everyone's bump different and also why suggest sending me for a scan otherwise?

This is my first baby and I am 29 weeks now (27 at the time) x

It's one way of measuring baby is growing given there's no scan past 20 weeks typically. I promise, if she'd been worried she'd have sent you straight up. It's just a case of OK blip measurement, we'll keep an eye and if it happens again we'll have a proper look. Probably fine but ways better to be safe

Both my babies measured small. Yes they were born on the small side but were perfectly healthy

Dd was 5lb 13oz born at 38+4
Ds was 5lb 4oz but we did have problems during pregnancy with him. He stopped growing at 35 weeks and I had to have a lot of monitoring. He was born 37+3

I’ve been measured 2 weeks behind and 3 weeks behind by the midwife. Ive had regular growth scans anyway for high blood pressure so they haven’t needed to send me for any extra scans. Every growth scans shows the baby is average size and right on track.

If it’s 1-2cm either way they’re generally not concerned and are happy as long as you’re following the line and not dropping in size.

I think this bump size thing is as effective as reading tea leaves. Obviously it’s not going to be accurate to drape a tape measure over someone’s belly! We are all different shapes and sizes, and your belly still changes with fat, gas, bloating etc.

All kinds of shenanigans with my fundal height in my most recent pregnancy. At one point I was measuring two weeks ahead, though an unrelated growth scan a few days later showed a small-ish baby. At 40 weeks I was measuring behind, and even more so at 41, yet when she was born a few days later baby was over 7lb, so a perfectly healthy size. I remember being pretty sceptical at the time of the bump measurement. Baby was shoving herself into my right side and there was a clear lump where her little bum/back were to the right of my belly button. Yet MW measured right down the middle (thus missing actual baby). If baby had been lying with her back poking directly up under my belly button I’m sure the measurement would have been totally different.

Bump measurements are so inaccurate, it completely depends on how stretchy your muscles are and how the baby is lying. I kept getting sent for extra scans due to a small bump, and every one of them showed that the baby was actually quite big.

So, don’t worry. If you do have to go for an extra scan just think of it as an extra opportunity to see the baby and hopefully it will show that everything is well.

I was measuring 4 weeks small and a few weeks later delivered a 9 pounder. I don't think bump
Measure is very accurate at all (even scan isn't completely accurate but at least more so than bump measurement).

I measured a week behind in my second pregnancy. My GP and midwife both said that they’re only concerned if you’re more measuring more than 2 weeks behind or it changes suddenly. My son weighed in at 8lb 4oz at 39+5

I had this 12 years ago with DC1 they told me we would be lucky if they made 5lbs. Team from neonatal in the room for the birth, they took one look and walked away as baby was 8lb 3. My sister has just last week had a similar experience. They told her tiny baby maybe 4lb, they even had hands on the baby as they tried to turn them during an ECV. Baby born last week 7lb 2. So in my experience they can and do get it wrong. Good luck

I'm 28 weeks and haven't had my bump measured yet. The midwife said she wasn't going to bother because I'm booked in for a 32 week scan and scans are a much more accurate way of measuring the baby's size. So I won't know where we are size-wise until then. She seemed comfortable with this so I'm just going along with it!