What does it mean if your baby is in the 30th percentile at 36 weeks?🥺 (Worried)

Question

I'm worried that my child is going to be very short growing up or having some growth issues.. I'm 5 feet 2 inches and her dad is 6 feet and 1 inch.. I was hoping for a tall baby like her dad but, I'm mostly worried if my baby being in the 30th percentile is too small..😔😞

Answer

Not only are scans known for being inaccurate this far along, but being small isn't a big deal. My daughter has been in the 5th percentile her whole life and is perfectly healthy. Sure she is smaller than most her age, but she doesn't lack anywhere else. She's always met milestones why before she needed and she's brilliant.

Answer

It means that if you put 100 babies in a room, 30 of them would be same size or less, and 70 would be bigger. 30 is more than ok!

Answer

30% isn’t a big deal. Not every baby is the exact same height and weight at the exact point in time just like kids and adults are all different sizes. The only concern is if baby starts dropping percentiles while in utero

Answer

FWIW, I'm 5'2", my husband is 6'2", and our first came at 36+5 and was really small for her size. 
At age 2.5, she's literally taller than ALL of her 3-5 year old cousins. I wouldn't worry about it!

Answer

Totally irrelevant. My daughters birth percentiles compared to her percentiles just a few months later completely changed.

Answer

A scan around 30 weeks showed my baby in the 18th percentile. Had a repeat at about 36 weeks and he’s still small but 28th. They discovered since he was so wiggly at the 30 weeks scan, they didn’t get an accurate measurement for some things which threw off the average and percentile. So he’s still “small”, but OB said they don’t worry unless baby falls under 10th. So he was already 5.5 lbs at 36 weeks. I expect him to be close to 7 whenever he comes out. 
It’s been 5 years, but my daughter was 6 lbs 15oz at birth and was like 95% on the curve for height. She was never a chunky baby and she still has like 0% body fat, but she’s healthy, they say her weight is good. Just because they’re “small” on the inside doesn’t mean they’ll be short or stay super small once they’re out and eating. Try not to worry about it. Sounds like your baby is healthy and that’s all you’ll care about when you’re finally holding them.

Answer

Theres a correlation to height at the 20 week scan and adult height, not so much with end of pregnancy.

What does it mean if your baby is in the 30th percentile at 36 weeks?🥺 (Worried)

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