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How to Make Baby Grow Bigger in Womb

Please annotation: This data was current at the time of publication. Only medical information is always changing, and some information given here may exist out of engagement. For regularly updated information on a multifariousness of health topics, please visit familydoctor.org, the AAFP patient teaching website.

Information from Your Family Doctor

IUGR—Why Is My Baby Modest and What Can Be Done Most It?

Am Fam Physician. 1998 October 15;58(6):1393-1394.

  See related commodity on intrauterine growth retardation.

What is IUGR?

IUGR stands for intrauterine growth retardation. This means that your infant is growing slowly and doesn't counterbalance as much as your dr. expected for this stage of pregnancy. If your unborn baby weighs less than most babies at this stage, your baby might have IUGR. IUGR is as well used to draw a baby who weighs less at nascence than most babies at the same stage. For babies who are born near their due engagement (significant, they aren't premature), the dangerous weight is anything less than v pounds, 8 ounces.

Your md might suspect IUGR if he or she thinks your baby is growing slightly less than would exist expected. IUGR is usually diagnosed during an ultrasound examination. Doctors most often find it during the sixth, the 7th or the eighth months of pregnancy.

It'due south important to know that IUGR only means slowed growing. These pocket-size babies aren't mentally slow or retarded. Most small babies grow upward to be good for you children and adults.

Why is my baby small?

Doctors know many of the causes of IUGR just are only able to be sure about the cause in almost one half of babies who take IUGR. The nearly common reasons for a baby to be small are the following:

  • The mother smoked cigarettes during pregnancy.

  • The mother drank alcohol during pregnancy.

  • The mother had loftier claret pressure level during pregnancy.

  • The mother had infections during pregnancy.

  • The baby has chromosomal abnormalities (like Down syndrome).

  • The mother used sure medicines during pregnancy.

  • The female parent is modest (less than 5 feet tall or weighing less than 110 pounds).

Why is my baby's size important?

The best predictor of a infant's survival and good health is its birth weight. Babies built-in with low birth weight might have issues near the time of birth. Considering of the danger of some of these problems—such as difficulty holding a normal trunk temperature or fighting infection—your doctor volition do some tests to observe out if your babe is growing well, both before and after nascency.

What tests might be done on my baby?

Two tests tin detect out if your baby has IUGR and keep rail of your baby'due south growth in the womb. These tests are the ultrasound exam and the nonstress test. The first kind of test, the ultrasound exam, is used to find out if your baby has IUGR. This exam is done every iii to four weeks to make sure your baby is still growing right. The ultrasound exams allow your doctor look at your infant's internal organs and measure the amount of fluid around the baby.

Special ultrasound exams are chosen biophysical profiles. During a biophysical profile, the person who does the examination volition also scout your infant's breathing, muscle tone and movements.

The other test is the nonstress examination. This exam is commonly done in the doctor's part, but it might be done in a hospital. A nonstress test measures how fast your baby'southward heart is beating. A healthy infant normally has a heartbeat that gets faster as the baby moves around. A nonstress test takes nearly xx to xxx minutes to do. It might take longer if your baby is asleep.

Sometimes your doctor wants to watch your babe's heartbeat while your uterus contracts (squeezes together). This is called a contraction stress exam. There are ii ways to aid you have contractions for just a footling while. Showtime, your nipples will be warmed up. Sometimes this makes your uterus start contracting for a little while. If that doesn't work, you could take a special medicine (either oxytocin or pitocin), to make your uterus contract simply for a little while.

What happens if a examination isn't normal?

If 1 of the tests isn't normal, your doctor may want to practice other tests. Your doctor may also try to start your labor early (induce labor) if you lot might take a problem.

What will the md do to aid my infant?

If your infant is very small when it's built-in, your doctor tin give it oxygen through a nose tube, fluids through a tube in a vein and, sometimes, antibiotics.

What can I do to help my baby?

You tin do 5 important things to assistance your baby grow big plenty before it'southward born:

  1. If you smoke—quit now. Cigarettes hurt the placenta, which is your infant'south only mode to get "food." It's never likewise late to quit smoking. Babies gain 1 half of their weight in the last iii months before being built-in.

  2. If yous beverage alcohol—quit now. Even one drink a day makes it more likely that you will take a small baby. Y'all could even take a baby with encephalon damage caused past the alcohol. This can happen in all months of pregnancy.

  3. If yous use illegal drugs—quit at present. Nearly all illegal drugs make babies too pocket-sized to be strong and healthy. You may need your doctor's help to quit so you don't take withdrawal bug.

  4. Eat a good diet. Ask your doctor to tell yous the all-time foods to eat.

  5. Keep all your appointments for doctor visits and tests.

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This handout is provided to you by your family doctor and the American Academy of Family Physicians. Other health-related information is available from the AAFP online at http://familydoctor.org.

This information provides a general overview and may not apply to everyone. Talk to your family physician to discover out if this information applies to y'all and to get more information on this subject.

Copyright © 1998 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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How to Make Baby Grow Bigger in Womb

Source: https://www.aafp.org/afp/1998/1015/p1393.html