How many weeks would a two pound baby be?

[isolationagain]

Hello. Long story short, I am trying to help my grandad whose mother told him he was only two pounds in weight when he was born. She was around 5'7" and stocky build so I would imagine that her full term babies would be in the same range as mine, i.e about 8 pounds.

She never told him how early he was and he'd like to know now. Apparently the hospital sent my great grandmother home with the two pound baby to look after herself as this was in the 1930s, prior to the NHS and they were poor, so they couldn't have afforded for the baby to stay in the 1930s equivalent of NICU.

I wonder if anyone who has had a very premmie baby and who is of that sort of height etc could tell me how many weeks they think a two pounder is? My son was six weeks early and he was five and half pounds so a two pounder, I am thinking, must have been born at 6.5 or 7 months gestation: its impressive that he survived given that it was 85 years ago.

if say around 28 to 30 weeks.
if he was prem. maybe he had some sort of intrauterine growth issue for another reason

Im not sure OP. She could have had problems with her placenta causing IUGR such as Undiagnosed gestational diabetes with a mixture of premature birth

I had a scan at 28 weeks and my baby was estimated to be 2.5lb

My DP was born at

My 32 weeker was 3lb3

Oh wow that's very impressive for that time! My son was born just under 3 pounds at 33 weeks. He was small due to iugr, but was kept in nicu for more than a month then.

I have a cousin who is now 67 years old. He was 1lb oz and was about 6.5 months in the pregnancy when he was born and his mum was sent home from hospital with a shoe box to bury him 😥. (This was 1950s Ireland)

His dad was 6ft 5 and his mum 5ft in total (both now passed away). He is a strapping 5ft 11in with no health problems at all. He is the healthiest one in the wider family 😁

I know this doesn't really answer your question but sometimes despite what seems to be low odds at the time, they make it through unscathed. Your grandad sounds like my cousin in that way.

Mine were born at 30 and 33 weeks and were 3lb 11 and 5lb 2
I would say between 28 and 30 weeks

My step gran had baby around that weight as well and she says she was sent home and told to put vaseline on their head . Amazing that these babies survived without all the medical assistance we have today.

My 2lb 3oz baby was born at 30weeks. My full term baby weighed 8lb 8.5oz.

My father (born 1942) was born at home and weighed 1lb 3oz. He was kept in a shoe box filled with cotton wool !! There is a studio picture of him crawling where he looks the size of a newborn but with a full head of hair and the face of a 9month old, it’s very bizarre.

I was 5lbs 13 at full term

My grandfather's brother was similar, he was born at home weighing "the same as a bag of sugar" and my great grandmother had to carry him around one a cushion for the first month because his skin would blister and brake if she touched him. God knows how survived, but he's now in his 80's.

DH was 2lbs 1oz at 31 weeks 40 years ago.

Thank you all for sharing these. It is amazing that these premmie tiny babies lived back in the days before NICU.

My 28 weaker was smack on 2 pound.

My 25 weeker was 1lb 13 oz. it’s hard to assess gestation from weight tho because a growth restricted baby could weigh the same - there was a 30 weeker that weighed almost the same in the nnu.

Oh wow, these stories are amazing! A good friend of mine was born at 25 weeks weighing circa 1.5lbs about 40yrs a go, but he was kept in hospital rather than in a shoebox!

It varies so much you can’t really say.

My twins were born at 35+1 - one was 4.5lb and the other had IUGR and was 3.5lb

I was born at 36 weeks and weighed about 5.5lb

I was 2lb 2oz, and 15 weeks early, but that was only forty something years ago.

I was 4lbs full term. DGD was 3lbs 2oz at 32 weeks.

I was born at 27 weeks in the early 80s and was 1.1kg so 2.4lbs...

Ooh and actually I was the third baby so apparently quite a good weight for the gestation.

He could have been a twin also. My granny has twin brother and sister, the dr who sent them home said the boy would be ok but they girl probably wouldn’t survive the night. This was the 30’s too. No gentle words of comfort.
I don’t know their weight but they were babies 9 and 10 of 13 overall and said to be the smallest by far. Babies were smaller then. The girl twin survived got 85 years.

My friend's baby was born at 26 weeks and was 2lb 2oz

My daughter was born at 26+3 and weighed 620g (1lb 5oz) she was apparently a little on the small side for that gestation.