Baby measuring small :(

Hey TDB, when I had the anomaly scan they also told me my babies head was small, now at my 39 week scan the babies head is measuring at 39 weeks. Don't worry to much, hopefully everything goes well. The main thing is that your eating healthy, all the right nutrients for your growing baby.

Thanks Kiwi - I am reading the Baby Whisperer right now and she bangs on about how much she "loves to work with 9 - 10lbs babies because they sleep so well" and lower birthweight babies are so much harder and more needy because they need to feed more. TBH I am finding the books really boring - is that wrong? I just find it so dull to read about routines and schedules and patterns and how much milk etc blah blah, I would rather wait to meet my baby and work it out from there. Maybe I am desperately naive but I am more of a practical hands-on person so reading about this might be more handy when she's actually here rather than imagining the theory of it all at this stage and what I might do in this or that scenario. On a positive note - at least giving birth won't be quite so scary as if I had a ten-pounder lol! Thanks again Kiwi, feel very reassured. My advice, read the baby whisperer parts on tired signs, avoiding over-tiredness, they are really helpful. Take the section on feeding and get a big fat permanent marker and draw right over the top, its very misleading and have made many a new mum (including myself) doubt themselves unnecessarily. Then put the books down and read the simple advice that is based on hundreds and hundreds of studies which is that [i'>newborns should be nursed/bottle fed on-cue, whenever they show signs of hunger or willingness to feed, they should not be given anything other than milk, no boiled water to stretch them between feeds, they should be allowed to nurse on on side until [b'>they[/b'> seem to want to switch and they should then be offered the other side to take or leave[/i'>. Ignore the BW rabbiting on about foremilk and hindmilk and her dire warnings regarding avoiding "snacking". Some babies do well on 3-4 hourly large feedings, others are much happier and healthier with smaller frequent snacks there is no norm and it depends not only on the baby, but on the mother as although almost all mothers are capable of making "enough" milk, we all vary immensely in how much we can hold in our breasts at one time and the speed in which we can "let down". If you read your baby, rather than a book, you'll get a much better idea of what they need and whether they are getting it. If you do have any feeding issues, head straight to a qualified IBCLC, don't waste time/money with the books or asking your pediatrician. In fact, have a few numbers on hand and if you don't take a lactation class before you give birth, plan on having a qualified LC visit when your baby is a few days old, to reassure you that you are off to a good start.

Don't worry TDB, I was told the exact same thing for my DS but in the end he was perfect...size wise and weight wise.. I too found the books boring and read them again after DS was born...it was interesting afterwards ;)

Don't be so sure that you won't have a big baby! You are only 25 weeks and your DD still has lots of growing to do!

haha wishing for a big baby, you must be in the minority! My baby is measuring smaller than my last did and I'm so pleased about it as I am getting to the point in my pregnancy (36 weeks) where I am no longer worrying about a premature birth and instead worrying about how on earth I am going to get this thing out of me! The measurements they do are very inaccurate, they give a rough idea but they are based on averaging measurements (head size, leg length etc) and so if (like my last baby) they happen to have a big head and long legs then they will estimate their weight to be much higher than it really is and if they have short legs the opposite. A trained radiologist can give a more accurate measument, only because they are more skilled and use better gear, but they still estimate the same way, the margin of error is huge, something like 500g either way. What is more important than size is that your baby is growing steadily, if you ask around you will discover that just like how all adults are different sizes, so are all babies, small babies are not less healthy than large babies and an average sized baby is not a "perfect" sized baby. In all likelihood with your genetics you will have a "smaller than average baby", and she will be perfectly healthy and strong. Once she is born, don't fall into the mindset that big is good and small is bad. She will grow at a normal rate against whatever percentile she is genetically made for. So if she follows the 10th or the 25th curve then thats great, she is growing well. You don't get extra mummy bonus points for bumping her up to the 75th, its the rate of growth, not the actual weight that is an indicator that a child is growing well, and even then, its a very rough indicator. If you had a baby that was larger than average (and basically 50% of babies are smaller than average and the other 50% are larger than average) then you might start to worry that you would need a c-section, they might threaten you with inducing early, and your hospital, like mine might have a stupid policy that any baby born over 4kg will be taken from their mother's arms and observed in NICU for several hours. (my son was born at 3.7kg and I was very relieved I didn't have to argue that one, as they had predicted him to be bigger) And please throw away those books. There is no evidence at all that bigger babies sleep though the night sooner or that when a baby doubles their birth weight they should no longer needs night feeds etc and therefore you should leave them to cry if it turns out they didn't read the same book as you and have the audacity to feel hungry in the night. When you have a big baby like I did, you get so sick of the comments "oh your milk won't be enough, you'll have to top up, you;ll have to start solids early, blah blah blah). Of course with a small baby you get the same level of ridiculous, "your milk mustn't be enough, you'll have to top up, you'll have to start solids early". Just eat when you feel hungry, and eat healthy nutrient dense foods. Lower weight babies and babies born early can sometimes be lower in iron, so get some red meat down along with that pasta! <em>edited by kiwispiers on 02/09/2012</em>

I was told in June when I was pregnant that my son had a big head. He was born with a normal sized head, if not a bit smaller than average! All of my children were full-term but had relatively low birth weights (2.3, 2.5, 2.8 kg). They were all completely fine. Be careful of these private establishments ordering all sorts of tests! If you have insurance, they will take advantage of that.

i dont have any advice, just wanted to assure you that you're in excellent hands at NINE. dr george is fantastic and will do anything and everything to assist you. he is very thorough and explains everything in detail. good luck!