Forum 3rd trimester

Belly and head are growing 5 weeks apart.

6 replies

HereWeGoAgain
Hi! I'm almost 35 weeks pregnant and at my check-up on Friday, the OB-GYN saw that the baby's abdominal circumference is at the 10th percentile (about 2 weeks behind schedule) and the head is at the 96th percentile (3 weeks ahead of schedule). That's a 5-week gap! He didn't say much about it, but I think that's quite a big difference in growth.

Has anyone else experienced such a big discrepancy between body parts at this stage? And how did it play out in practice once the baby was born?

Replies

  1. Anonymous Guest #2

    Hi there, that's really annoying, you'll cause worry I was wondering how the doctor could measure the head properly around 35 weeks of pregnancy. It seems like the head is already very low. My doctor really didn't make an effort around that time because it wasn't accurate to measure anyway. But yeah, doctors, they all just say whatever they hope it works out and your little one comes healthy in a few weeks!

  2. HereWeGoAgain started this #3

    @anoniem: Our baby just recently turned from breech to the right position, and nothing has dropped yet. Since it's our second, it wasn't surprising that it hadn't dropped yet. My daughter also had an above-average head circumference at birth (36cm), so I asked him for an opinion. I've been under follow-up care since 24 weeks due to the baby's growth (specifically for the belly and blood flow through the umbilical cord). Everything was and still is fine. But the head is growing significantly better than the rest. The midwife also said that it's not abnormal for breech babies to have a slightly larger head. But now I found the gap between the two measurements to be quite large. Maybe the head will stop growing for a bit so the belly can catch up.

  3. Anne #4

    I have no idea. But it doesn't sound like the OB-GYN and midwife find it concerning. With me, it was more the other way around: a big belly (p90) and a slightly smaller head (p20), which the midwife also said was fine. Those growth scans are always tricky.

  4. HereWeGoAgain started this #5

    @Anne: ooh that's about the same but in the opposite direction yeah, indeed, she wasn't worried. I'm not really worried either that something's wrong, I think I'm just imagining it all a bit too unrealistically right now. When you hear those numbers, you really think: that baby is going to come out with a tiny body and a mega big head But in practice, the difference is probably not even that visible.

  5. An1990 Guest #6

    Hey,

    It was exactly the same for us: head was 3 weeks ahead and belly 2 weeks behind.
    At birth it turned out to be true, our daughter's head is big. But it was like that with my sister's kids too!
    Meanwhile our daughter is 11.5 months old and her head is still a bit bigger compared to the rest of her body but the difference is disappearing little by little.
    And her big head has no consequences for the rest (there's nothing wrong with her, perfectly healthy).
    With my sister's kids (a bit older) the head is now in proportion with the body so no worries at all ????greetings, An

    PS: you shouldn't think anything weird about it either. You see that the head looks big but it's not that people think 'that kid looks weird' hahaha

  6. HereWeGoAgain started this #7

    @An1990: hahahaha phew!!! That really puts my mind at ease! That was actually where I was a bit worried about My daughter is 14 months now and she still has a slightly larger head circumference, but I think you really can't tell at all unless you go measure it.
    So I don't have to expect a tiny Alien baby haha

    How big and heavy was your baby at birth?

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