[mini mac]

I want to ask the world of EB a few questions.

I went into spontaneous early labour and had DS2 at 35 weeks and 6 days. Easy VBAC delivery, no complications. No reason investigated. Growing well physically and reaching developmental milestones appropriately. He is a happy and perfect little boy He's nearly 6 months already, gee it's gone so fast!

I haven't really been concerned about it nor researched it too much as he is hitting all the milestones on average otherwise I'd have looked into it more intensely earlier, but I bumped into an old friend today whose little boy is a day younger than DS2 and seriously looks a couple of months older!!

It just made me think again about the importance of corrected age and babies development and perhaps I've maybe overlooked something I should've be paying more attention to??

Obviously I understand it depends a lot on the individual but I'm interested to know at what point does one ignore or stop classing their baby as a premmie or stating that childs 'corrected age'?

I was one of the lucky ones whose baby wasn't underdeveloped, albeit on the small side of normal weighing in at 3.07kgs at birth. Of course, alarm bells would've rung if he were obviously developmentally delayed or wasn't growing. Now I don't really think much of how early he was but in the first 2-3 months I felt it was potentially quite important in his development.

The other thing I was wondering was how likely am I to have another prem baby if we choose to go again for no 3 (highly likely ). I heard someone say that the chances are higher and I that may automatically fall into a higher risk category... I am curious to know how true this is??

[MuminMtEliza]

Hi OP, I've had a 34 weeker and a 35 weeker. I must admit that I don't really do the corrected age bit - my DD who was the 35 weeker, is now 16 months, but most people think she's about 12 months, so I don't think if I added the 5 weeks it would do much. Sometimes when I'm thinking she is a bit slow doing something - crawling, talking etc I remind myself to take 5 weeks off her age!

When I was expecting my DD I asked my OB whether I was likely to have another premmie. With my DS my waters broke suddenly at 33w 5 days, and then nothing happened for 3 days, then contractions started, and I had a quick delivery. My OB 2nd time around didn't think I would have another premmie - he said that if I had contractions then my waters broke with my DS (I had the opposite) then i was more likely to have another early bub, but seeing my waters broke first he thought I would make full term. I was actually induced at 35 weeks with my DD as I had pre eclampsia and pneumonia and after a week in hospital being treated, my blood pressure was dangerously high so I will never know if she would have made it to term.

Good luck if you decide on number 3.

[Bek+3]

My 32 weeker was on par give or take with his peers by about 4 months old physically and developmentally. For this reason I never bothered with references to corrected age. In fact, I forgot to mention that he was a prem at the 12 month CHN appointment last month til 3/4 of the way through the appointment when she started filling out his book for height and weight!!

They say though to go by corrected age until they are 2 but I think that is more if they are behind, to keep in mind that they were prem and this is the rule of thumb. Like I said though, we don't really bother.

Actually thinking about it TODAY, the 12th of February is the 1 year anniversary of my due date for my 32 + 2 prem. So haaaaa, 1 year corrected today. There you go.

[DarylDixonismyhe...]

I've had a 35 & 36 weeker and never used "corrected" age. Never even thought about it really. They are now happy and healthy 11 & 13 year olds

[Mariamsmum]

My twins were born at 36weeks and were small so the paed did correct their age for a couple of months, but I never really did. By 6 months I felt there was no discernible difference, and now at 2 it is not something I even think about. My MCHN never corrected them for their check-ups either.
But all babies are different and develop at different stages, some would need to be corrected for gestational age.

[mini mac]

My 32 weeker was on par give or take with his peers by about 4 months old physically and developmentally. For this reason I never bothered with references to corrected age. In fact, I forgot to mention that he was a prem at the 12 month CHN appointment last month til 3/4 of the way through the appointment when she started filling out his book for height and weight!!

They say though to go by corrected age until they are 2 but I think that is more if they are behind, to keep in mind that they were prem and this is the rule of thumb. Like I said though, we don't really bother.

Actually thinking about it TODAY, the 12th of February is the 1 year anniversary of my due date for my 32 + 2 prem. So haaaaa, 1 year corrected today. There you go.

Happy corrected birthday for your little boy!

[Lainskii]

I've had a 32 weeker and a 33 weeker. After about 12ish months, DD had caught up and we didn't really need to bother adjusting her age. With DS, he is nearly 4 months and still not 4 kgs (born at 1.4) so even with corrected age he is only just on the charts for weight. He also isn't tracking to his 'real' age milestones so we need to use corrected. That being said, DD didn't walk until 18 months and her speech has been behind as well.

If your DS roughly tracked to the milestones and you never used corrected age then I wouldn't worry about it. He was pretty close to term (37 weeks) so I would assume that any difference would have been minimal. Maybe your friends child is on the upper end of the scale for age which is why they look bigger. When you looks at the variance for what is 'normal' it is quite large.

As for having another perm, if they don't know why then you may have another, apparently it is more likely if you have already had one. that being said, there are lots of people that have gone on to have full termers after a prem. They should monitor you more if you do have another pregnancy. My DD was spontaneous labour after my waters broke at 32 weeks, they don't know why either, no infection or issues in pregnancy. I was monitored more closely for DS and he wasn't growing as there were issues with the bloom cord flow so I had a c sect at 33 weeks.