Part of the fun, is guessing exactly when junior will appear. There are lots of methods used to predict baby’s arrival. The mom-2-be’s height is one of them.
You’re expecting.
Part of the fun, is guessing exactly when junior will make his/her appearance.
There are all sorts of techniques used to predict baby’s arrival
- You can track when you had your last period and then work backwards, to calculate, more-or-less, when baby was conceived. Then add 280 days.
- Your caregiver can measure baby’s bits and pieces with the help of an ultrasound and monitor baby’s position, to make an educated guess.
Most babies don’t come “ON TIME”.
Mother Nature keeps her own time, she knows when she is done……..
So how is Mother Nature deciding ?
Your first response – she is using the baby’s size, as her measure.
And you’re right.
Your baby’s size definitely reflects their development.
But, she is not only concerned with your baby’s size, she is also factoring YOUR SIZE into her calculations.
This is what a group of Kiwi researchers recently discovered.
Measuring up
The team started out measuring the heights of 213 relatively well-to-do Auckland Mums and Dads.
Next, they used ultrasounds to estimate gestational age of the “buns in the oven”.
And then…………………. they waited.
For Mother Nature to deliver the precious package.
She did so………………..294 times.
All the babies, included in the analysis, were healthy and considered to be term i.e. they were born somewhere between 37 weeks and 0 days to 41 weeks and 6 days. No, there weren’t any twins included in the analysis, the extra 81 babies are brothers and sisters.
The short and the tall of it
The Mums came in a variety of sizes. This studied only considered how tall Mum was, not how wide she was. These Mums ranged in height from 151.4 – 183 cm. The team arbitrarily classified their Mums as
- Short – Mums who were less than 160 cm
- Tall – Mums who were more than 170 cm
- Average – Mums who were in-between.
And then correlated the arrival of baby, with the height of the mother.
Shorter Mums deliver earlier
Shorter mothers tended to have shorter pregnancies and slightly lighter babies.
The difference is only a few days – so no need to panic.
Why does it happen ?
At this stage, no one knows for sure. It probably has something to do with how much room is available for baby.
When you’re short, you’re usually don’t just have shorter legs, you have a shorter body too. This inevitably means there is less room available for baby to move. Being a little cramped up, might motivate junior to fly the coup, earlier…..
A friendly wager
Betting on when baby will arrive?
Be sure to factor in Mom’s height. Odds are, if Mom is on the short side, baby is coming sooner, rather than later and if she is on the tall side, expect a slight delay in baby’s arrival.
Further reading
It’s thirty nine weeks, time to get the show on the road
A baby is considered “done” by the 39th week of a pregnancy and BIG enough to be born. But, when it comes to babies….bigger is better.
Delivery room wins require skin in the game
All things being equal, babies who experience skin-to-skin contact with Mom in the delivery room are more likely to be, breast feeders.
Developing baby’s need to see green
The “love” of things NATURAL, is hardwired into the human brain. Young and old, rich and poor benefit from green medicine. So do babes in the womb.
If you are an expectant Mom or know someone that is – invite them to participate, so they can create Better Body Chemistry during their pregnancy and raise a HAPPY HEALTHY little one.