Is 38 weeks pre-term?

[Anonymous]

My third was born at 38 weeks exactly. Now at 9 months he is huge - which has surprised me since he was 2 weeks early. His 9 month stats are 30” (97%) and 25lbs6.5oz (99%). Do you adjust milestones and height/weight tables for 38 weekers?

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

They weren’t supposed to induce that early anymore, but 37 weeks is still considered full term.

[Anonymous]

Nope. My son was like 1 day before 38 weeks and he was a big chunky infant.

[Anonymous]

38 weeks isn't early.

[Anonymous]

Is this a serious question?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think so. My son was also born at 38 weeks and about the same size now at almost 9 months.

[Anonymous]

Nope, that's a full term baby.

[Anonymous]

Not early.

Mine were 34 and 38 weeks. Only the 34 week baby was considered early. Since you are focused on size, for context, the 38 week baby weighed 3 lbs more than the the 34 week baby at birth. Completely different ball game. 38W was on the normal growth chart from birth, 34W was on the adjusted chart until about 6 months, then "caught up to genetic instructions," and was on the normal chart thereafter (always above 90th for height).

[Anonymous]

No. Preterm is before 37 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Mine was born at 38.5 and I have never adjusted milestones. I would also just generally not worry about a 2 week difference in meeting a milestone or for weight gain.

[Anonymous]

No. It's sometimes called early term. 37-38 weeks is early term. 34-36 weeks late preterm.

Early term can be associated with transient initial feeding difficulties, breathing issues, etc.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Sounds nice and chunky also. He weighs more than my 2 1/2 year-old!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Sounds nice and chunky also. He weighs more than my 2 1/2 year-old!

Ha, mine too!

[Anonymous]

Nope. My daughter was born 10 days early and she was considered full term. She was 6 lbs 12 oz or so. At 4yo, she’s about 33 lbs, so not chunky, but normal.