Re-aging your baby

[splendid]

If you can think of a better title let me know.

I was wondering how common after your baby is born the NICU staff lists them as a younger/different age. From the youngest preemie thread I noticed many people mentioned staff changed how many weeks their baby was, and do you ever factor that in when calculating AA.

When I had my son at 33w0d, when he was born he was pushed back to 31w0d. I always wondered how common it was.

[Lousli]

They didn't exactly re-age my adughter, but from the get-go they had a different due date than I did. In fact, mine stayed the same, Feb 7, and theirs wandered around a bit until they settles on Feb 9. So it didn't make a world of difference, except that I knew going in to the hospital that I was 32.5 weeks and they thought I was just 32. I was charting though, and knew when I conceived, and i think sometimes when women are uncertain about their dates it may be clearer after the baby is born.

Her neonatologist told me she was a little SGA at birth (which, when I looked on charts, didn't and still doesn't seem correct). They don't correct for her prematurity now, and developmentally she's soaring, but size-wise, she's a tiny thing. At 26 months today she weighs just 23 pounds and still wears mostly 18 month clothes.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

I went through several due dates with Rusty, and according to their final due date he was 34 weeks and 1 day (according to my chart he was 35 weeks 1 day) and surprise, surprise - his final discharge papers from the NICU say his adjusted age at birth was 35 weeks, 2 days.

[Liba613]

: My baby was born at 36 weeks 4 days. I have a clotting disorder and had early early ultrasounds before starting blood thinners so the dates were accurate. According to my LMP he was actually 37w 4days but the 36w4d worked with my cycle and the u/s.

When he was born the neonatologists said he was more like 26 weeker. He was very immature, needed surfactants, had unstable glucose, thin think skin (the first time they took off the heat sensor he bled and had an open wound they had to deal with), was very floppy, his PFO is still open and he had a VSD, he took a long time to start digesting and had to be taken off of feedings because at 6ccs he still had 5ccs residual after three hours, they had a hard time with his blood oxygen levels and high CO2 while he was vented, wasn't easy to wean off of O2, etc.

Neurologically he is still 14 weeks behind. It took him those extra 14 weeks to lose his preemie reflexes, start crying tears, and just about everything else. He is 7.5 months and hasn't rolled yet, but if you adjust for how early he thinks he was it makes sense.

One of his neurologists still gives him that 14 weeks correction and he seems right on track when they do!

[intorainbowz]

They never "re-aged" her, as I had an ultrasound at 5 weeks 6 days and then again the next day, both confirming her dates, which was good because otherwise we would have been in a world of trouble as I otherwise would have had no idea when I concieved. I have screwy cycles and this was my first cycle off the pill and never had a period.

The neo did tell us that she seemed more like a 29 or 30 week baby based on her physical development (brest buds, ears, neurological, etc) and weight. Her ped agreed with that assessment when he examined her, that she did not seem like a 41 week baby, rather a 36 weeker.

[irangel]

My daughter was 25w0d based on u/s but we didn't have an LMP to go off of. When she was born she was the size of a 23wkr and acted just like one also so throughout her chart it says anything from a 23wkr to 25wkr though I still consider her a 25wkr.

[aris99]

My daughter was 28 weeks according to my Dr but the neonatologists said 26 weeks because of how she acted and because her ears were unformed, her eyes were fused and several other details. However, my Dr argued that because I had Prom at 15-17 weeks my daughter's development may have been delayed.

Who knows?!

Adjusted age everyone always takes the younger age because my daughter now at 14 mos is a little delayed...I guess they think maybe it sounds better to the parents?

[liberal_chick]

Going by LMP, ds was 30 weeks 3 days at birth. Early u/s showed that he was actually about a week or so behind that, but my aunt did those u/s not my doc so there was never a calculation of due date using an u/s. When he was born, they dated him to be about a 29 weeker, which went right along with what the u/s had said.

[Cinder]

My daughter IMO was born at 38w3d, in the OB's opinion she was born at 36w4d, then the NICU said she was 34weeks.

Our ped adjusted her age based on the 34 week definition the nicu gave her.

:

[sunflowers]

My dd's age always stayed the same according to her file. Once, a nurse referred to her as a 26 weeker during the shift change oral report but I was there so I could correct her

What burns me is that the NICU always referred to her as a 27 weeker when really, she was only 24 hours shy of 28 weeks. Made those 6 days I spent in antepartum seem like a waste- at least on paper, YKWIM? To me and dd, those 6 days made a world of difference!

[lindberg99]

My son was born at 30 weeks, 3 days. Initially, they assessed him as a 32 weeker but then not surprisingly, after a few days they said he was behaving more like a 30 weeker. Um, maybe because he was?? Oh, and they also went back to 30 weeks 0 days instead of 30 weeks 3 days because they said trying to put the days in messed up their computer and that just threw everything into a tizzy. Which I can understand, as I've seen my boss in many a computer related tizzy!

[munkeesmama]

She was born at 27 weeks 2 days, she has always been considered a 27 weeker.

[sasayaki]

There was a lot of confusion about my due date, because I was about 20 weeks along before I finally saw a doctor and had an ultrasound. Based on my due date, my son was 30w5d, but each ultrasound I heard over and over about how small he was measuring for his age. Based on LMP, he would have been 29w0d, but in all the nicu records, they aged him as 30 weeks 0 days.

It seemed that he had a lot of issues for 30 weeks. But it could be argued that it was due to the heavy bleeding from placental abruption, or the prom at 25 weeks. Or maybe it's just that the "every baby is different" rule applies here. Who knows! :

[ksera05]

Sydney was born at 24w5d and I was 100% sure that she was a 24w5d'er because I'd been charting and using OPK strips when we conceived. Plus I'd had an early u/s because of a threatened m/s.

She was IUGR, so she was tiny, but her reflexes measured up with being a 24 weeker.

[alliteration]

My due dates (which were pretty accurate as I knew not only my LMP, but was doing fertility charting as well) had me at 31 weeks. The neonatologists listed him as 30 weeks 3 days. Pretty close.
I only told his adjusted age until he was about 18 months and had developmentally caught up with term babies born at the same time.

[tbavrbab]

Originally Posted by alliteration

I only told his adjusted age until he was about 18 months and had developmentally caught up with term babies born at the same time.

Now THERE'S an idea! I keep getting flack from people. "Well she's almost 7 months, why doesn't she roll over yet?" "Isn't she doing (blah) yet?"

I should just say she's 5 months, then I wouldn't get quite as much "helpful" chatter about her development!

Course, I'm sure I'd then hear about how HUGE she is for that age : She's 15 lbs 5 oz of monk-a-chunk...and I love every centimeter of it!

And as for re-aging, we had no trouble, the date I had, given when I ovulated (charting, OPKs), was 2 days off from what the OB measured at the first and nearly all subsequent ultrasounds.

[Amys1st]

According to the AAP, you should adjust backwards, at least that is what my nicu said. Maggie was 24 weeks, 6 days and 18 hours. So she was a 24 weeker. She was also 1lb 12oz, which is large for that gestation and I heard more than once- thats the biggest 24 weeker I ever saw! I remember replying, Well its the smallest I have ever seen!! :
But by development, she was right at 24-25 weeks.

At the hospital she was born, they had done a quick ultrasound and it measured at 24 weeks, 6 days. It also said my dd would have been
June 1st. But the nicu had the dd as the 7th and still kept her as a 24 weeks along. Who knows?