How small is 'too small'?

[Mole007]

Am 33+5, and on fortnightly scans as each scan seems to through up yet another anomaly! First soft markers, then head and legs too short (told not a worry, but do come back in 2 weeks anyway ). Can't help but think they are only finding stuff as they are really searching for things, but now they tell me that the Abdominal Circumference is too small, and that this has to be monitored as there may come a point where the 'baby would be better off in an incubator' than in me, and may therefore need to be induced.

Has anyone else had this, and at what point did the 'powers that be' decide that small was too small? Did this mean SCIBU or NICU, and how does this impact on stuff like BF?

Babies don't acquire the instinct to suckle until ~35 wks gestation, friend who had premies but struggled to breastfeed told me.

Am sorry to hear you're going thru this. Late scans are notoriously inaccurate for measuring size, though. Is the blood flow looking ok?

Blood flow is looking fine. Am just torn between believing (hoping) they are chasing shadows and finding stuff because they are looking, or whether I need to be more practical, and be prepared in case there are things that aren't quite right.

Fairly sick of the whole thing, TBH. Suffered hyperemesis for the first 5 months, had a month off, and now it is back in force, the markers, an amnio, and now problems with growth.....thought pregnancy was supposed to be one of those natural things....woudl have loved just one day of blooming!!!!

Anyway, I digress. Blood flow is looking fine. Fluid levels are on the low side and are also being monitored, and suggested weight is at the bottom of the scale.

Really do want to BF, so will have to keep my legs crossed for at least another couple of weeks, and persuade the medical profession to back off!!!!

Argh, MN must be very quiet with school hols, you should have had some replies from people with relevant experiences.
I guess if it wwere me I'd be torn between "Listening to the experts" and going with my own instincts.
You could try to contact some of the breastfeeding support groups now (NCT, LaLeche, whoever) and see if you can find some BF supporters in your area who know about how to get premies to latch on. I had a friend whose son was born about 12 weeks early and she managed to breastfeed him in the end, so it is possible.
Good luck, however it goes. If things don't turn out quite how you'd like, don't beat yourself up about it. Remember you're only human.

When I was pregnant with DS my doctor feared he was measuring small for his dates at around 33 weeks. I was told like you to come back after a couple of weeks as the growth can come in spurts. My doc said that if he was just a small baby and growing normally then it was fine for him to stay inside, but if not then I would have to think about an early induction because it would be safer for him outside in an incubator. As it turned out he grew fine, still on the smaller side but I ended up with a slightly different complication of low amniotic fluid so I was induced because of that (but at 40+1).

My sister had premmie twins who were both in incubators and successfully exclusively bf both of them. I think she had to express and they were fed by a tube initially. They were only a couple of pounds in weight each.

if they are fornightly scanning then chances are you will be closer to term before any firm decisions are made.

just try to eat well, rest lots and not stress, easier said than done.

worry about bf etc whenever a conclusive decision is reached and not before.

second la leche though. it is possibly slightly more difficult to establish breastfeeding later on but totally realistic.

worst comes to worst, expressed milk or bank milk is an option.