Midwife measurement accuracy.

[beeboo92]

I've just come back from my 25 week scan and been manually measured for the first time. Apparently my baby is way above the centile lines and is measuring 4 weeks bigger than it is.
At the 3 scans I've had baby has been bang on perfect in size. My last one was 5 weeks a go but how accurate is the measuring tape usually? Because I'm now petrified I've got a giant growing in there (that I must say is well hidden because my bump isn't big at all, even the midwife commented how small and 'cute' it is).

Don't panic! I measured 3cm ahead at my last midwife appointment and was immediately sent for a growth scan. The baby was 55th percentile (and had been 50th the scan before that). This week. I only measured 1cm ahead (so three weeks growth but only one cm gain) and the midwife wasn't bothered. Within-operator measurements (same midwife, same woman, same day) can be 1cm different but between-operator measurements can be up to 7.5cm different (different midwife, same woman same day)! I looked this all up last time because I was cheesed off with being stressed out for nothing.

The sonographer told me it was probably just how the baby was lying & so not to worry in future. I've also been told I have a neat bump, that somehow measures whale sized! So I've stopped paying attention to my fundal height tbh...

Honestly, measurements from midwives or scans need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

My bump with my first apparently was measuring small, so sent for a growth scan only to be told they were measuring baby at an estimated 10.5lbs! My DD ended up being 7lb 10oz full term.

Honestly I wouldn't worry about it at all. I always measured 2 weeks ahead so was always sent for growth scans where baby followed a lovely trajectory of being just under 90th centile every time.

I remember when I had my 38 week appointment it was a completely different midwife and she measured me at 43 weeks! I was lying way further back than I usually had been as well. I knew it was all wrong!

I would pay no attention to the fundal measurment at all at the end of the day it's a person with a tape measure and so many factors can affect it.

It's wildly inaccurate and definitely not something to stress over. The only reason ita still done is because it's the only indicator a midwife has for growth and the alternative would be to scan everyone every 2 weeks, which they don't have the resources for.

Worse case is you get a growth scan, which is usually nice and reassuring. Even the scans aren't that accurate though, there's something like a 20% margin of error on the scan, the tape measurement is probably only marginally more accurate than a wild guess 😅 so even if the scan comes back too big/too small, still take it with a pinch of salt.

I just had a growth scan today due to reduced movements yesterday, baby is estimated 6lb 4oz at 34+4, which is a tad large buy the tape measurement was a bit small.

I wasn't measured at my 25 week appointment so I guess some trusts don't do it..she checked the heartbeat and had a feel but no measuring.