Will you be having a growth scan?

[TimesRwo]

The hospital I am currently with offers three antenatal scans - the nuchal scan at 12 weeks, the anomaly scan at 20 weeks and a growth scan at 36 weeks.

I remember my growth scan being very detailed and it took all morning because DS was in an awkward position, so it seems to be a thorough scan rather than a quick check up.

Currently pregnant with my second and I will be moving in a few weeks. The new hospital doesn’t offer any scans after the 20 week scan, which has made me a little anxious.

I was wondering how routine the growth scan is.

It’s really not needed in low risk pregnancy. I’ve had them in all pregnancies essentially to appease the professionals and no decisions were made based on the findings. They proved highly inaccurate for me too.

I had one at the end of pregnancy because they said baby hadn’t grown. When I had the scan they said baby was massive, so big I ended up having a c section, and then when she was born she was 8lbs. So no, I don’t recommend growth scans!

They are not offered as routine generally, unless there is concern with baby growth. I'm getting 3 growth scans this pregnancy but that's only because of my age, it's routinely done for women over 40 as there is more risk with placenta not working properly. Had only 2 scans with first baby, one extra scan with second as baby head measured bigger at 20 weeks scan.

Based off the assumption that you are UK based, usually low risk pregnancies only have the 12 and 20 week scans. If there is reason for concern or a history they will do more. I will have had 6 scans total by the time bub is born, 6 week placement scan due to previous ectopic, 12 and 20 week scans and growth scans at 30, 34 and 38 weeks due to previous growth restricted pregnancy.
Definitely understand why so many people pay for extra reassurance scans!

Thanks, that’s helpful. In reality I probably will get a growth one privately. My anomaly scan has been booked for when I’m 22+4, which feels too late, so was planning to do that privately at 20 weeks, so I guess I can go back to the same doctor for the growth scan as she’ll have done all my scans?

Hospitals that do a standard 36 week growth scan tend to be the large tertiary research hospitals. Yes you get some information about the baby that may be useful but they also get access to you and the baby for research purposes (with your consent of course). I personally loved the 36 week scan, they are researching some amazing things and was happy to be part of it. But I don't feel it gave me any further information about the baby other than reassurance. If they were needed they would do them everywhere

I had a growth as baby was measuring small. Baby had been in transverse position but according to midwife was now in correct position. Lo and behold growth scan showed she was indeed small and was not in direct position and was breech and seemingly had been for quite a while as she was stuck in my pelvis and required a c section.

I had three scans each time at King's where it is standard. The 36 week one isn't just a growth scan, they do it to measure blood flow from the placenta and to look for any markers that this has been compromised. It's to try and limit stillbirths.

My current hospital is King’s, and they are amazing for the pre-natal checks. As PP said it is also for research purposes, but it is really reassuring too. My new hospital will be a lot smaller than King’s.

Ditto. Kings. It really is amazing. I've given birth at another major London hospital and Kings antenatal screening has been next level. The dr that did my 36 week scan told me it's because the Professor that leads the fetal medicine centre is a world famous guru (he developed the NT test for Down's syndrome in the 70s) and he attracts huge amounts of research funding that enables them to offer the 36 week scan as standard and fund all the additional research options. Irrelevant to your question, but I thought it was interesting!

I had two growth scans as I had low p-appa which can mean you might have a small baby. My baby was on the large side so it was nice to have the growth scans as there was nothing to worry about and it was nice to get a glimpse.

Just 12 weeks and 20 weeks here unless there's a reason to need more. It's my second pregnancy and I'm pretty relaxed about everything so won't be booking any extra scans.

The evidence does actually say that it reduces stillbirth. Many countries such as France offer them as routine I believe and have a lower stillbirth rate. Certainly about 8 years ago hospitals were told to start offering them as routine but the hospital didn’t have the staffing to facilitate it so it was dropped. There is a national shortage of sonographers…..have they done anything about that, have they bollocks. It’s a disgrace but hey ho, only women and babies!

for the majority of women the 36 week scan will make no difference. But it’s for the minority of women where a problem is picked up and an early induction recommended it could be life saving. Saying that it is small numbers so chances are you’ll be fine….but no comfort if you’re one of the unfortunate ones.

I was also at Kings, and my 36 week scan picked up that DD1 was transverse and had placenta issues.

Without the extra monitoring I got, it might well have ended up with a stillbirth.

As PPs say this is routine in other countries, and I think it’s shocking that other hospitals here don’t.

Yes definitely. I had mine at kings hospital and it was then that they told me my baby turned breach so they planned my c section, otherwise I wouldn’t have known till on the day of labour !

@JD90 if you’re happy sharing how dod
you realise your last pregnancy was growth restricted? I’m considering paying for private growth scans, maybe at 30 and 36 weeks as I don’t know how they spot issues otherwise

@Ljhunt it was a combination of things, it was initially noticed a possible concern as I had an extra scan at 24 weeks due to her dad having a heart condition, but was also picked up by my midwife as I was frequently measuring more than 3 weeks behind on my fundal heights. So would have been picked up on routine assessments either way.

I had growth scans all the way through, never took longer than 20 minutes.

Saying that some hospital do offer routine scans at 36 weeks now - not necessarily labelled as growth, and I think this is such a good idea and it's been reported that they can reduce stillbirths and other countless issues.