Baby's head and abdomen measuring big, femur measuring small

[Apbakes]

I had a private scan yesterday, and have got myself very worried about the discrepancy between babies head and abdomen measurement vs femur length.

I was 31w 6d at the appointment. His head is in the 90.66 percentile range, abdomen is in the 78.81 percentile range whilst his femur length is only 7.35 percentile.

Both me and my partner are tall, he is 6ft 2 and I'm 5ft 7, so I don't think it's that we are shorter individuals. But we do both have longer bodies to shorter leg ratios.

The ultrasound did mention he had little legs, but I brushed it off at the time... but then the inevitable anxiety hit in the middle of the night. Would she have mentioned anything as it was just a reassurance type scan.

Am I over thinking this? Has anyone else had the same and it ended up being OK?

I've not experienced this, but my advice to anyone worried about anything in pregnancy would be talk to your midwife.
I'm sure that was there any concern it would have been noted at your anomaly scan (20 weeks) and she will be able to explain it to you.

My DS had short femur length only picked up at the 32 week scan. I can't remember the exact percentile it was on but it was very low. The sonographer brushed it off at the time. Like you I went into Google panic mode after but didn't need to. He did have short legs but not out of proportion when he was born. He's 15 months now and definitely his torso is longer than his legs but id say it's starting to even out. No health issues, completely healthy.

I remember worrying about the opposite, OP - my baby's oddly long femurs and smaller head. Then I realised I am also a bit like that. She turned out fine!

You say you both have longer body to legs ratio, I would say it's likely your baby has too. Remember they are ranges, and your baby is in the normal range. It's very rare to be middle of the range for everything.

Babies grow head down - it's normally for their heads and abdomen to be on a higher centile

Very normal to have head, abdomen and femur on different ends of the spectrum centile-wise. These are all very normal sizes and nothing to worry about :)

I've experienced the same pretty much throughout my whole pregnancy with his femur going up and down, first time they measured he was 13 percentile, second 21 percentile, third time 48 percentile then last scan 8 percentile. I freaked out every time.
I called the midwife to discuss and she advised NOT to look online or google, the NHS have their own way of recording results and as he was showing overall 50 percentile they seen no issue with it.
She said if there was any red flags we would be informed by the NHS immediately.

Thank you all! This has reqlly helped put my mind at ease!

My son was exactly the same. I had 2 weekly scans throughout due to an unrelated issue and he was always short, fat and with a big head! They thought he'd come out huge but he was average. He's two now and is a small little thing but nothing to worry about. He's just short.

@Apbakes wondering how it all went with you abd baby? I'm going through a very similar situation and I'm so stressed about it.

Everything ended up absolutely fine, and I now have a healthy ball of energy, nearly 8 month old currently rolling around in his cot as I'm trying to get him to sleep.

He was born overall in the 25th percentile for weight but was on the longer side and has just entered the 75th. His head ended up being fairly big but not crazy so, I can't remember the exact measurement. I did need forceps and an episiotomy in the end though, but was all fine.

He still has a head on the larger side and littler legs, everything ended up being healthy though. If I remember correctly, we had another scan a week or so later on with the NHS, and the measurements were different to the private one- I brought it up and they said they do things a little differently and they would flag it if they were concerned.

Hope this helps, and congratulations!

@Apbakes thank you for replying. May I ask if your measurements were all normal before you had you private one at 31 weeks? Its just our case is slightly different where we are showing shoer femur from 24 weeks, 3rd centile! All other measurements are normal.

His femur was on the shorter side from the start, but was noticeably (to me at least) on that scan (from what I can remember.) Maybe bring it up with your midwife and see what they say if you're concerned - I would 100% reccomend steering clear of google- it was my worst enemy towards the end haha.

My son was the same although I can't remember exact measurements, it around 36 weeks that they noticed. He was born at 38 weeks and is totally normal, although like OP I had to have an episiotomy and forceps. He was also facing upwards though so could have been that. His head probably is on the larger side of normal, but apparently that runs in DHs family 🙈

My DD was similar at 33 weeks when I was scanned as I was measuring big for dates.

She arrived 39+5 weighing 9lb with a 98% head circumference, by normal vaginal delivery (bloody hurt though!).

She was very out of proportion, bless her, with very large head, long torso and short stumpy limbs (babygros were not a good fit).

It took her a few years to grow into her head, but she got there in the end and at 6 she is now a lanky thing!