Gestational age when born and development?

shellideaks

Mummy to 4
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,207
Reaction score
1
My LO was born nearly 4 weeks early and I was just wondering if that would make any difference to her development? She's now 6 weeks & 2 days old and I've had a couple of smiles from her the last few days, you have to work hard for them though lol. My niece is 6 weeks older than DD and I remember when she was 8 weeks she had pretty good head control and also was putting weight on her legs if she was picked up. Parker doesn't do that and her head control is still pretty poor. Could this be attributed to the fact that she was early, do I need to take it in to account as she grows? She still sleeps tons too.

I know babies that are born considerably early have adjusted ages, but not sure with 4 weeks. My son was 3 weeks early and I don't remember him being behind or anything? :shrug:

I mean it could even be that my niece is just a strong baby and Parker is normal for her age. Just looking for some opinions :flower:
 
I think it has to be less than 36 weeks before the age is adjusted. My LO was born at 37 + 2. I was worried about her being behind as a result of that and because she was small for gestational age (5lbs at birth), but if anything she seems to be ahead of most of the bigger babies I know. She's 9 1/2 months and I'd say she'll walk in the next 2 weeks - she looks funny cause she's still only 15lbs and tiny! They are all just different i think, and remember, milestones are just a rough guide :shrug:
 
Depends. LO is 8 weeks early but he had head control from 36 weeks on and smiled at 34 weeks. Other things like sitting and rolling he was a little late on. So so far he has been a little bit behind on some physical milestones on his actual age but ahead on his corrected age.
 
I think it probably really depends on the baby. A good friend of mine had her baby at 36 weeks old. She was due around the same time as me, but her baby is a month older. They do still seem to hit milestones around the same time, so her LO's "adjusted age" seems to fit.
 
I don't personally have experience with this, but my friends daughter was born 4.5 weeks early her doctor told her that her baby MAY be 'behind' in some milestones by those 4 weeks if looking at her actual age but should be right where she should be by her adjusted age (iykwim?) Like Liam, she hasn't really been behind in anything by her actual age by much, so pretty ahead of the curb if looking at her adjusted age.
 
My 2nd son was born at 34+3 wks, it took him longer to smile, sit up, crawl, walk etc but babies overdue could also have taken as long as my lo did. He also had good head control from birth!

My 3rd son was born at 38+3 and I do notice a different but saying that every child develops differently!

Btw my 34 wker needed no extra care & we were home after 3 days (I had a section) x
 
Does it work the other way? Micah was 10 days late and he's smiled already! But then again he's small for his age, so if I used his due date to calculate his age he'd be even further behind :dohh:
 
I had Ethan at 34+6 and he's hitting most all of his milestones on time or ahead of schedule with his actual age. I think it really just depends on the baby.
 
Thanks for all the answers ladies! I guess I'll have to be a little more patient for frequent smiles lol. I'll take it as it comes, I did think it was probably down to the individual baby. I'm sure in a few weeks she'll be improving with regards to her head control and whatnot :)
 
According the Wonder Weeks, development should be adjusted to the expected due date rather than birth date. I can't be of much help tho, my LO was born right on the dot.
 
I'm pretty sure you don't adjust the age unless the baby is technically considered premature, so born before 37 weeks. Your lo is just a week behind that so I don't think you'll really see a delay in development. Remember that every baby is different and some just smile earlier than other even is they were born at the same exact gestational age.
 
Personally I wouldn't adjust unless there is a great deal of difference (we have 3 months difference so it really mattered in some cases.
 
Thanks, that's what I thought. I was thinking 4 weeks probably wouldn't make too much difference but wanted to double check.
 
We tend to hover somewhere between adjusted and actual age for milestones - social/communication ones now she seems to hit on her actual age (or slightly ahead - not that she's the daughter of a gobshite you see...) but physical ones she lags more toward her adjusted age in - but the gap seems to narrow all the time.

They all get there in the end - only really matters if you're stuck next to an obnoxious competitive milestoner!
 
Thanks for all the answers ladies! I guess I'll have to be a little more patient for frequent smiles lol. I'll take it as it comes, I did think it was probably down to the individual baby. I'm sure in a few weeks she'll be improving with regards to her head control and whatnot :)

Even a full term baby shouldn't really be expected to have lots of smiles or perfect head control at 6 weeks. I remember my pediatrician asked us at his 2 -month checkup if he was smiling a lot, but not before that. I'm sure your baby is doing great. Don't worry too much. :)
 
Thanks for all the answers ladies! I guess I'll have to be a little more patient for frequent smiles lol. I'll take it as it comes, I did think it was probably down to the individual baby. I'm sure in a few weeks she'll be improving with regards to her head control and whatnot :)

Even a full term baby shouldn't really be expected to have lots of smiles or perfect head control at 6 weeks. I remember my pediatrician asked us at his 2 -month checkup if he was smiling a lot, but not before that. I'm sure your baby is doing great. Don't worry too much. :)

I guess I'm just impatient haha. Can't wait for the big smiles instead of all the frowns! But yeah, I'm sure she'll get there soon enough. Thanks :)
 
Thanks for all the answers ladies! I guess I'll have to be a little more patient for frequent smiles lol. I'll take it as it comes, I did think it was probably down to the individual baby. I'm sure in a few weeks she'll be improving with regards to her head control and whatnot :)

Even a full term baby shouldn't really be expected to have lots of smiles or perfect head control at 6 weeks. I remember my pediatrician asked us at his 2 -month checkup if he was smiling a lot, but not before that. I'm sure your baby is doing great. Don't worry too much. :)

Gawd I took crap at my daughter's 6 week check because she wasn't smiling by then, they started with all the breath drawn in through teeth noises (you know, the ones much beloved of workmen before they give you a stonkingly large repair quote) while I sat there weakly pointing out "she shouldn't even BE here yet you know?"
 
My lo was two weeks late and smiled at three weeks and rolled at six weeks. Could be a coincidence though?
 
My little guy was a week late and is generally ahead with all of his milestones. He has growth spurts and things like that a week before it says they usually have growth spurts as well, though that was more noticeable when he was a newborn.
 
My little guy was a week late and is generally ahead with all of his milestones. He has growth spurts and things like that a week before it says they usually have growth spurts as well, though that was more noticeable when he was a newborn.

Same here!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Members online

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,650,302
Messages
27,144,763
Members
255,758
Latest member
yednow
Back
Top
monitoring_string = "c48fb0faa520c8dfff8c4deab485d3d2"
<-- Admiral -->