Baby measuring on the 97th percentile

[Mamtobe2024]

Hi,

I'm nearly 32 weeks pregnant and at my last two midwife appointments baby is measuring on the 97th percentile. The midwife said it could just be he is a long baby or he could obviously be on the bigger side or both but without a growth scan it's hard to tell.

At my 27 week appointment my fundal height was 31cm then at my 30 week appointment my fundal height measured 34cm.

She's said I don't need growth scans because he is plotting on the same line each time he's not dropped below or above the 97th percentile so she said not to worry. However I'm a first time mam and all this is new to me so I'm just wondering was anybody else's baby measuring on the 97th percentile, did they turn out to be a big baby or? I assumed that because he's on the 97th percentile I'd of been sent for growth scans incase he's too big or whatever however my midwife said I don't need a growth scan at the moment.

It sounds like it’s not your baby measuring on the 97th percentile, but your bump, which includes baby, placenta and amniotic fluid. My own baby is measuring about 20 percentiles lower than my bump is! I really wouldn’t worry, as long as your bump is growing along its own line then all is good. 😊

Oh that actually makes much more sense, I'm so stupid 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 Thankyou for replying x

Fundal height can depend of kg you got in pregnancy, how much water you retain, and position of the baby.
It is not unusuall that id drops once baby engages in last weeks.

Btw I had suspected "big baby" by 25w and 36w scans. Was pestered with growth scans and diabetes tests. Declined.
Baby boy was 52cm and 3.5kg so bog standard. They took femour measure and as I and DS have long legs it skewed the whole thing.

Try not to worry.

Definitely don’t stress based on fundal measurements.
My bump was measuring off the bottom of the chart throughout but 3x growth scans and a private scan all said dd was on the 91st.
She was born bang on her due date, bang on the 50th centile for weight !

My first boy was measuring off the charts & was 9lbs 8oz - birthed him no problem. Second baby also measuring massive and honestly am sick of being pestered about repeat growth scans - wish my care providers had the same attitude as your midwife!

Big babies can still be born easily. ❤️ If you're worried, I'd focus on positioning exercises to make birth easier. Spinning babies have great resources on this.

My daughter jumped from 50th to 95th within a 2 week timeframe (30-32 weeks). I had the GDD test and it turned out I did have gestational diabetes. This was then managed and she plotted happily along the 95th percentile, think there was a slight jump to 98th at one point. I was told to prepare for a humongous baby. She was born at 39 weeks weighing 8lb 6oz - nowhere near as big as they'd predicted! She show 2 and has been on the 50th percentiles since birth :)

My 99th centile baby was born 12lbs and much more easily than their older sibling who was a very average 7lbs 10oz. But they are notorious for getting weights wrong so I wouldnt worry