How to calculate the weight of a child for weeks of pregnancy?

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Many pregnant women can read data on the weight of the fetus in their medical chart, but few are wondering how to calculate it. Meanwhile, there are quite a number of ways to do this, however, not always the result will be very accurate.

The first and easiest way to calculate the weight of a fetus is to keep track of your own weight. However, there is a possibility that a pregnant woman is gaining weight not because the child is growing, but because of swelling, overeating and other factors. But if the set of mass is strictly according to the individual schedule, you can simply use the special tables of the main indicators for the weeks of pregnancy and not suffer the question: "How to calculate the weight of the child's body?"But when calculating "by eye" it should also be taken into account that the "excess" mass is given to the body by a large number of circulating blood. So the accuracy of this method is very, very doubtful.

The second way how to calculate the weight of a child is also quite simple and suitable for self-application, however, it requires some skills. The approximate mass of the fetus is calculated by a simple formula: multiply the value of the height of the uterine fundus and the volume of the abdomen. Usually, these data can be found at the gynecologist during the next visit, but you can determine yourself. The volume of the abdomen is measured in centimeters at the level of the navel, but with the height of the bottom of the uterus, everything is not so simple. In theory, until the last weeks of pregnancy, this figure coincides with the period in weeks, but it does not always happen. In fact, finding the bottom of the uterus is not so difficult, especially after 12 weeks. It's easier to ask a specialist to determine the uterine bottom. So, the distance from the lone articulation to the bottom of the uterus will be the desired value. The above formula, when measured accurately, gives very average values, which may also be incorrect due to the physique and pregnancy. There are other formulas that are more accurate, so asking your midwife how to calculate the weight of the baby will be superfluous on the next visit. Who knows, maybe a specialist will suggest a non-standard way.

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Finally, in order not to be tormented with questions about how to calculate the weight of a child accurately, one can turn to ultrasound studies, they will help to calculate the mass of the fetus with acceptable accuracy. In order to determine this indicator, several measurements are made: the size of the head, the length of the arm from the shoulder to the elbow, the length of the hip, the volume of the baby's abdomen. Based on these indicators, the doctor calculates the weight of the fetus. Many modern devices even do this automatically after taking measurements, and also display information about the expected duration of pregnancy in accordance with the indicators. This way of how to calculate the weight of the baby is also not always accurate. It depends on many factors: from accuracy and accuracy of measurements, from the position of the fetus in the uterus, etc. In later terms, errors in calculations can be up to half a kilogram! Even an ultrasound for several hours before childbirth can calculate not the weight that will be at birth.

In fact, no method gives an absolutely correct result. But the accuracy of ultrasound or counting by measuring the height of the uterine fundus and the volume of the abdomen is quite acceptable for assessing the development of the child. And the rest of the future mothers just need to listen to yourself.