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They Say: 1 in 4 Mothers Don’t Know What “Full-Term” Means
Hang around a very pregnant woman long enough and you’ll hear it, a comment that goes something like this: “I can’t stand it anymore. I wish this baby would just come already.”
In a world of scheduled inductions and c-sections, there are ways to make that happen. But while it’s sometimes medically necessary to deliver a baby before he or she is due, doctors are warning that — contrary to popular belief — it’s not perfectly safe to deliver a before 39 or 40 weeks.
A study out of Drexel University College of Medicine recently found, however, that mothers aren’t very clear on that issue. Twenty five percent of 650 new moms surveyed indicated that they considered 36 weeks full-term, a safe time to deliver a baby, even if not medically necessary.
While babies delivered this early often do just fine, Dr. Alan Fleischman of the March of Dimes told Healthday that an unnecessary early delivery isn’t without risks.
“Everybody knows a baby who has been born a bit early who has done pretty well,” Fleischman says. “But what we’ve learned is that, going backwards, there is increasing mortality and morbidity for every week prior to 39 weeks of gestation.”
Fleischman also says that those last 5-6 weeks aren’t just for packing on baby fat — 50 percent of brain development happens between 35 and 40 weeks. Experts are now calling these early births “late pre-term” to distinguish them from full-term births.
Does this finding challenge what you thought you knew about full-term pregnancies?
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8 Comments
Laure68 commented on Nov 23 09 at 12:49 pmWell, technically, full-term is at 37 weeks. That is not optimal, but when OB’s refer to full-term, they mean 37 weeks.
Larissa commented on Nov 23 09 at 2:58 pmYeah, but what we are learning, through the widespread use of induction, is that 37 weeks isn’t as full term as OBs thought it was. A baby who comes on its own at 37 weeks may be fine but a baby that is “encouraged” to come at the same gestation may not be.
Minvo commented on Nov 23 09 at 3:53 pmThere are varied ideas of what constitutes full term and the most consistent range I’ve seen is 38-42 weeks, with 37 weeks being considered safe enough to deliver w/o much chance of complications. That is, it’s not ideal but if one goes into labor at 37 weeks, they won’t try to stop it. Personally, as uncomfortable as I was towards the end of both my pregnancies, I hoped to make it to my due dates before I delivered because my babies’ health and development far outweighed my discomfort. What I find more annoying is the notion held by some that pregnancies last 10 months because 40 weeks divided by 4 weeks/month = 10 months. Ummm, no. For some reason that really drives me crazy…
Ali commented on Nov 23 09 at 6:22 pmI was pregnant for 40 weeks but had friends who hoped to deliver early, like 35-37 weeks, cause they wanted a “teeny,cute baby” or thought it would hurt less or damage their vagina less to push out a small baby. These are educated, career women.
Madeline commented on Nov 24 09 at 1:01 amWhat I think is wild is that we’re talking about educating the moms. Meanwhile, it’s the docs who are giving moms the choice of when to get induced/schedule the c, etc.
MMCMomma commented on Nov 28 09 at 12:33 amAs the mom of a late pre-term baby (Delivered 36w5d due to severe pre-e, he was 9 lbs. 8 oz, no my dates weren’t incorrect,) I wish every woman could be educated in depth on the scary possibilities that come with these babies arriving so early. Yes, my son weighed more than most term babies. Yes, he looked totally fine. His lungs and his digestive tract, however, were not. We lucked out. Less than a week in the special care nursery. Weekly doctor’s visits, non-stop monitoring at home and a host of other small problems make up for that time not spent there, though. It’s an old wive’s addage, but there’s so much truth to it – if the baby’s not out, then he NEEDS to be in! (Please forgive a lack of cohesive thought. Newborn brain, over here.)
katekilla commented on Mar 01 10 at 11:45 amWow, MMCMomma, what a nice big premie! I’m glad to hear he’s okay but yeah, those last few weeks are really important in terms of development and lots of kids born at 36-39 weeks have problems.
Ali, you know a lot of crazy women :)
I think the problem stems from math. Everyone “knows” that pregnancy lasts nine months and too many people think they know that a month = four weeks. Which, well, it doesn’t. And then there are the extra two weeks they tack on to your total gestation — weeks during which you aren’t actually pregnant (it’s those two weeks between the first day of your LMP and your assumed conception date). Anyway, I have always heard 40 weeks as the typical/ideal and my kids both seemed to think 41 weeks was nicer.
Blahber commented on Mar 02 10 at 2:30 pmYour body is based off of lunar cycles, not your modern gregorian calendar, which is 28 days (exactly 4 weeks as there are 7 days in a week). When you do the math, yes, pregnancy is indeed 10 LUNAR MONTHS which is what your periods are calculated off of – so it actually VERY odd that they count your cycles with lunar months and count your pregnancy with gregorian months. You truly are pregnant for an average of 10 natural months…not manmade 28 days here and 31 days there crap :)
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