Baby measuring small at growth scan

Have they booked you in for another scan?

Both my babies measured small. The concern would be that baby isn’t thriving. But if your next scan shows bubs is measuring at same or similar percentile, then they are still growing ok. If there’s a big drop, only then you would be concerned and they might encourage you to have baby a bit earlier. I wouldn’t be too worried yet, my babies were 3rd and 9th percentile. And they were just a bit more slender, length was all good. Both perfectly healthy.

@Laura not yet, the consultant was supposed to give me a call at some point today to discuss next steps but not heard anything yet.

It's not really how small they are measuring but how normal their growth is. The following scan will track that growth rate. As long as they are growing a normal rate that's all they are monitoring. My baby was born on the 5th percentile. But they kept telling me she'll be too big and induced me early due to my diabetes. She was 5lbs 12oz. Such a tiny little thing but I had growth scans every 2 weeks and she was growing just fine. I know the scans can be scary but as long as she's growing normally. Good luck. She's still on the 5th percentile and 9 months but in 3-6 months clothes. She's strong and healthy and growing well.

@Jade💃🏻 thank you for this, definitely a bit of reassurance that I needed 💖

My little girl was born on 9th percentile but weighed 6lb 11oz which I didn’t think was particularly small. She’s 13 months now and the last we checked was now following the 50th centile. Try not to worry, as others have said as long as baby is still growing then it’s ok :)

I have a small baby hovering around 10%. My consultant said if they keep growing along their line it’s fine to just carry on but if they start to drop down then they may recommend inducing 38/39 weeks depending. You should be more closely monitored as well I believe. So it’s more a concern if you last scan baby was at the 49% and has dropped below 10th as opposed to they were always about that point anyway.

I was the same from 20 weeks. They may just scan you more often to keep a close eye but as long as things don’t drop anymore and you don’t have any other problems going on you should be fine. My baby stayed on the 10th the whole time but I also had reduced movements and the pressure in the cord was all over the place. Despite all this and having 3 scans a week I still made it to 38 weeks before they induced me and that was only because of the other issues alongside the growth. Xx

Yess, i had this with my first dropped from 10th to the 3rd and born at 34 weeks and happening again this time baby measured 12th centile and has dropped to the 1st. Its horrible and worrying, we have fetal medicine specialists getting involved now but all im focusing on is trying to keep baby in as long as possible. Hope everything goes well for you 🤍

@Misha thank you 💖 so glad your little girl is doing well x

@Jessica thank you, I’m so grateful for the reassuring messages

@Catherine thanks for your reply 💖 I guess the next scan will give me more info

@Sky thank you, very reassuring x

@Courtney aww he’s lovely, thanks for the reassurance x

@Alice thank you, hope everything goes well for you and bubba too 💖

You’re welcome. They only worried during pregnancy as his centiles kept dropping between scans. If baby maintains their centile, whether it’s 99th or 1st, it’s all normal as long as they continue on that line 💛

Try not to worry too much lovely, everyone is so different and I don’t believe they are fully accurate - my first baby was measuring on the 50th percentile during all my growth scans, went into labour at 36 weeks and he was born on the 3rd percentile. They will keep a track of your measurements during midwife appointments and growth scans and will act upon their findings so rest assured all will be ok 🩷

My baby measured on the 7th centile at 28 weeks. They booked me in for a doppler and placenta check at 29 weeks and another growth scan at 30 and she had gone up to the 9th. Because we’re still under the 10th I saw the consultant that day who mentioned inducing at 37 weeks to feed her if she remains under the 10th. I have my next scan on Monday- it’s lush seeing my girl growing and very reassuring that she is but I’m willing for her to get over the 10th because they’ve promised I can have the water birth I’ve always wanted if she does 😂 Another reassuring thing is that growth scans are notoriously incorrect. My friend was told her term boy was tiny and at the size he should have been at 28 weeks. When he was born he was 9lb 8 and she had no clothes to fit him x

@Ames @Charlotte thanks for your messages 💖 xx

I’m in the same boat! I had my midwife appointment on Wednesday, and it was the first time they measured me. I’m slightly below the 10th centile, so they’ve booked me in for a growth scan on Monday. The lady at the hospital mentioned that scans should ideally happen within 72 hours, but since they’re fully booked, they’ve asked me to pop in on Friday for some monitoring—just 20 minutes of listening to the baby’s heartbeat, which was really reassuring. She also said these measurements aren’t always reliable since they can vary depending on how they’re taken, so that helped put my mind at ease a bit!