Under the 10th centile

[EmilyH91]

Hello :) I had my 20 week scan and was told my babys weight was under the 10th centile and his femur was under the 3rd centile, I have no idea what these mean and the hospital havent been very helpful. Im freaking out a lot and was wondering if anyone had any similar experience/words of wisdom about this! I have an additional scan booked in for when i am 27/28 weeks to check his weight and my placenta, it seems like a long time to wait? does anyone know if this a normal amount of time to wait? Thanks in advance :)

My experience is that these scans aren't very accurate. I've heard a hundred stories like mine about the scans being wrong about size (in all directions).

What will be will be and they won't be able to get any definite information until Baby is born, is my experience.

I had this with my first two and I'm expecting it again with this pregnancy. I had to keep having growth scans as my babies measured small. My last baby was born in 3rd percentile, he is perfectly healthy he was just small, If they are leaving it that long between scans then they are probably not overly concerned so try not to worry, good luck🍀

Thankyou :) It is hard not to worry especially with it being our first, but that does help! ❤

@EmilyH91 I no what you mean I was so worried with my first, she ended up being bigger than they expected, some babies are just small If everything else is ok then your baby is should be fine 🙂

Yes DD was on 5th centile at 20wks and her head on 3rd. We had another scan at 28wks and head was catching up with the rest of her and she was almost at 10th centile. They said she was small but not worryingly small.
We then had 3 weekly scans and dopplers for the rest of the pregnancy and everything was good.
At 38 we scan she'd not grown since 36wk scan so I was induced at 39 wks. She weighed 6lb 110z and was perfectly healthy.

@k37529 Everything else was okay, thankyou so much! I hope everything goes well for you with your pregnancy!! :) @fairgame84 Thankyou thats a great help, Im glad that the long wait isnt as crazy as it sounds! The midwives weren't helpful at all and told me I'd have to call in the mornings to try and speak to a Dr which made me worry more!

I looked into having a private scan at 24wks due to the long wait but then the rcog guidelines are that the next scan should be around 28wks. If we went private and it was worse at 24wks, the nhs wouldn't do anything until 28wks anyway.

Scans aren't always that accurate but where are you and DH on the centile scale?

If your both relatively short then it's probably nothing to worry about..

I had that. Was booked in for a 28 weeks scan and he’d dropped off his centile even more. Had two weekly then weekly scans after that and he was born at 34 weeks due to stopping growing completely. However, if you get to the 28 weeks scan and baby is still on the same centile, then it’s not a problem. It’s just coz mine dropped centiles that it was a problem.

At 34 weeks he was off the bottom of the centile chart. But he’s now totally fine! Average height, no long term issues at all. So you won’t know what it all means until the next scan at 28 weeks. And even if he does stop growing, then it’s better you know than not know so you can keep an eye on him.

Wouldn’t worry me - someone has got to be smaller!

Just for your info a 10th centile man is about 5ft 6 and a 10th centile woman is about 5ft 2.