What does it mean when your baby measures ahead or behind?

Question

I see it a lot on here and I don’t understand what it means? Does that mean you’d have your baby later or sooner? Does it not mean much at all?

Answer

Due date is typically estimated by first day of last period. Most estimates also follow a typical ovulation window. Some women ovulate later or earlier than the typical ovulation window. So when an ultrasound is done, baby may measure a few days ahead or behind the estimated due date due to an earlier or later ovulation date. It usually doesn’t mean much because unless it’s more than I think 5 days they will stick with the due date that follows the first day of last period. Hopefully that makes sense. Due dates are also just estimates.

Answer

Depends if the baby is measuring 14 days behind or ahead if it's less then 14 days it's no cause for concern.

Answer

I’m early pregnancy, ultrasound measurements before 12 weeks it can mean you ovulated earlier or later than you thought. It seems to depend on the doctor if they change your due date accordingly. Later on in pregnancy it doesn’t mean much. Just the baby is bigger or smaller than average but the measurements are not that accurate so really it’s a guess. My second measured 3 weeks ahead, came 6 days late but was 10 lbs so he was just a big baby

Answer

Babies grow at their own rate. My oldest was always measuring 2 weeks ahead so she was a big baby. She slowed down at the end and was an average size at birth. My current baby is 1 week behind meaning she is a little smaller but not really in a bad way. App babies are different it just means their measurements are a little off of what's expected for the week your at

Answer

It also depends on the stage of your pregnancy. Early on, it can mean that you conceived earlier than you thought. If the baby is measuring a week or more different than your LMP date on the early dating ultrasound, they change your due date because the gestational age does not coincide with the LMP date. However....later in pregnancy, this term is REALLY misleading and my dr said he wishes drs would stop using this term "measuring ahead". Later on, all it means is that baby is bigger than average. So say you're 36 weeks and baby is measuring big, baby might be measuring what a typical baby at 38 weeks would weigh. But that does not change the gestational age or lung development pace, so the due date doesn't change and women often leave confused that they're going to have the baby earlier. The correct term should be "baby is larger than average" or "baby's size is of a high percentile".

Answer

my doctor told me the only time they worry is if your baby is behind/ahead by 14 or more days. being behind can indicate fetal growth restriction sometimes and being too ahead can be a signal for gestational diabetes, it all depends. sometimes i can be nothing since everyone has different cycles etc, for example my baby has measured 3 days behind at every ultrasound but that’s normal for him because my cycle was normally 32-33 days not 28 and when they calculate these things, sometimes they use the common 28 day cycle

What does it mean when your baby measures ahead or behind?

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