Can you 'guess' Baby's Birth Weight?

[Rochwen]

I've heard all these different stories as to what can affect a baby's birth weight, e.g. it depends on how much weight you gain, your own birthweight, your partner's birthweight, how long you carry the wee one, the size of the bump etc.

Are they all just old wife's tales or can you actually 'guess' your baby's birth weight by knowing certain stats, i.e I was a very small baby (under 6 pounds), I'm still a very small person (which is why I'm worried, lol), my bump is very neat and I havent' gained much weight as of now. Does that mean I'm gonna have a wee baby or could I still end up with a 10 pounder? (Btw, hubby was over 9 pounds when he was born eeeeeek).

Any ideas? I've just heard that even midwifes get it wrong all the time.

[eidsvold]

was tiny first time round - dd1 was just 6lb 1/2 oz... 2nd time round - the sonographer put dd2's weight at 9lb at term - she was 9lb 7oz at ten days overdue - so pretty spot on. I was huge 2nd time round too.

[Nat777]

I have also been concerned about this as I was 10lb and my partner was 8.8lbs.

I am now fairly small (norm a 10-12) and seem to have a tidy bump so far, I am at 26wks. But am terrified that baby is going to be big due to our birth weights!

One place I seem to have put weight on apart from my tummy is the tops of my arms! Errrgghh!!!! (angry)

[nutcracker]

I did actually anage to guess dd1's birth weight of 6lb 8oz but that was just luck.

[starlover]

i don't think you can tell at all.
I had a MASSIVE bump and everyone said that DS would be at least 10lb if not more. He was 9lb 1OZ... so big, but not THAT big.

A friend at work had the most minute bump imaginable, and gave birth to a 10lb baby girl.

I know people who have been overdue and had small babies, and people who have had premature babies that were quite large... so i think you just haev to wait and see!

[busyalexsmummy]

I dont think you can tell but im sure there is some significance of the father of the babys birth weight for example my friend was
8lb 12oz(full term) her partner was 5lb(full term), now their baby weighed 4lb 14oz at term for no medical reason, now ours was a similar story, I was 6lb 10oz(term) partner was 9lb 11oz and im only 5ft2 but ds was 8lb 13oz at term so both babies took more after their fathers.
my m/w said "im sure you wont have a huge baby my dear as your not a huge person", hmmm, take a look at my partner!-6ft3!!!lol

[Miaou]

Hi Rochwen, at my m/w appointment today she was looking at the size of my bump, and asking how big I was when I was born, and how big dh was, as well as how big my previous babies were, so I'm sure that that must be an indicative factor of how big the baby is going to be. However, it's not conclusive, and yes they do get it wrong. I was told dd1 was a big baby in very little fluid - in fact she was 6lb13oz and when my waters broke during labour they had to mop the floor!!

Basically you are right, there are lots of factors contributing to the size of the baby and even if they do a late scan they could get it pretty wrong (although they are slightly more accurate than they were when I had dd1!)