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New definition for full term
What does everyone think about the new definition for full term? It's 39-41 weeks now. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/22/full-term-pregnancy-definition/3145107/
It makes sense, at 37 weeks (per you doctors calculator) your baby is really only 35 weeks (gestational). So if full term is 39 weeks (drs. Age) then your baby is actually 37 weeks gestational.
If it gets the csection rate down then I think it's great. Far too many women are pressured, bullied and coerced into inductions and csections. Though I think 42 weeks is just fine especially a ftm.
Ew! Who wants to break the water@ 35 wks! That's dangerous. The new terms are a great step toward reducing early c sections. I would personally never want one! I'm scared of the risks, pain, scar, epidural, and everything else. Lol
Yes this is spot on. Baby knows when they are done in there. Electing to have an early delivery via c-section or by being induced is too risky. They are not done until they are done. Fitting having a baby according to your schedule is risking the child's health.
Completely agree. To many women are rushing their babies out and some aren't ready yet. Why risk having complications if you don't have to. There are definitely circumstances where baby needs to come out early and only a doctor should be the judge. I'm 38weeks now and as sick of being pregnant as I am theres no way I'll do anything to rush my little man out
I totally agree, even on here people are try to convince their doctors as early as 35 weeks to step their membranes or trying to do things to self induce early trying to go into labor at 37 weeks, it's sad. I think the article said it best, babies themselves are the best judges as to when they are ready.
I think it's a good thing. Too many women are trying to get induced or self induce too early because being told 37 weeks is full term. If 39 weeks is accepted as the norm maybe less women will rush pregnancy
A pregnancy is "full term" only in the narrower two-week window that starts at 39 weeks, under new definitions published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology and endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. The groups say babies born within those two weeks do best. Babies born two weeks before or one week after that window, at "early term" or "late term," face a few more risks, they say.
The biggest reason the terminology needs to change is to discourage doctors and patients from scheduling medically unnecessary deliveries — by induction or C-section — before 39 weeks, says Jeffrey Ecker, a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He chairs the college's committee on obstetric practice.
The new definitions are based on recent research. The old terminology "was based on the general observation that babies born after 37 weeks tended to do quite well," Ecker says. That's still true, he says, but doctors know now that babies born at 39 and 40 weeks do better and that risks rise again after 41 weeks.
"Language and labels matter," he says, and the changes will help doctors better communicate the latest science to patients.
Here's how expectant mothers should now expect doctors to describe the last possible weeks of pregnancy (counted from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period, but sometimes adjusted after an ultrasound):
• Early term: Between 37 weeks 0 days and 38 weeks, six days
• Full term: Between 39 weeks and 40 weeks, six days
• Late term: Between 41 weeks and 41 weeks, six days
• Post term: 42 weeks and beyond
The definitions were developed at a workshop in 2012 that included representatives from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and other medical groups. Details from the workshop were published in the journal JAMA earlier this year.
Still, the official endorsement by doctors who deliver babies is "incredibly important," says Edward McCabe, medical director of the March of Dimes. "In the past, when a woman made it past the 37-week goal line, she was home … This moves the goal line."
A 2009 survey of 650 women who had recently given birth, also published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, found plenty of confusion about where that goal line was. When asked when a pregnancy reached "full term," 24% said 34-36 weeks, 51% said 37-38 weeks and just 25% said 39-40 weeks.
Those attitudes helped explain why early elective deliveries were continuing to rise even after studies revealed risks for babies, including more breathing and feeding problems and a small, but increased, risk of death.
Groups including the March of Dimes have been working for several years to educate women about those risks. Many hospitals now have programs in place to stop elective early deliveries.
Those efforts have had a "significant effect," but the new terminology will help too, says Elliott Main, medical director of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative. "It's really nice for doctors to be able to say this is a national effort and we are trying to improve outcomes. Mothers want better outcomes for their kids."
Still, the cautions on early deliveries "should not panic women who go into labor spontaneously at 37 weeks," or who need to deliver early because they or their babies have medical problems, Ecker says. Early delivery can be justified by conditions from dangerously high blood pressure in a mother to poor growth in a baby, he says. "We are not saying deliveries before 39 weeks should be a 'never' event, but we are saying there should be a conversation."
Main says one reason planned early deliveries have higher risks is that doctors and patients sometimes miscalculate due dates. Babies themselves are better judges, he says, as evidenced by the fact that women who go into spontaneous labor at 37 or 38 weeks tend to have healthier babies than those who choose such early deliveries.
"Spontaneous labor set off by the baby is sign that the baby is really ready to be born," he says.
The biggest reason the terminology needs to change is to discourage doctors and patients from scheduling medically unnecessary deliveries — by induction or C-section — before 39 weeks, says Jeffrey Ecker, a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He chairs the college's committee on obstetric practice.
The new definitions are based on recent research. The old terminology "was based on the general observation that babies born after 37 weeks tended to do quite well," Ecker says. That's still true, he says, but doctors know now that babies born at 39 and 40 weeks do better and that risks rise again after 41 weeks.
"Language and labels matter," he says, and the changes will help doctors better communicate the latest science to patients.
Here's how expectant mothers should now expect doctors to describe the last possible weeks of pregnancy (counted from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period, but sometimes adjusted after an ultrasound):
• Early term: Between 37 weeks 0 days and 38 weeks, six days
• Full term: Between 39 weeks and 40 weeks, six days
• Late term: Between 41 weeks and 41 weeks, six days
• Post term: 42 weeks and beyond
The definitions were developed at a workshop in 2012 that included representatives from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and other medical groups. Details from the workshop were published in the journal JAMA earlier this year.
Still, the official endorsement by doctors who deliver babies is "incredibly important," says Edward McCabe, medical director of the March of Dimes. "In the past, when a woman made it past the 37-week goal line, she was home … This moves the goal line."
A 2009 survey of 650 women who had recently given birth, also published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, found plenty of confusion about where that goal line was. When asked when a pregnancy reached "full term," 24% said 34-36 weeks, 51% said 37-38 weeks and just 25% said 39-40 weeks.
Those attitudes helped explain why early elective deliveries were continuing to rise even after studies revealed risks for babies, including more breathing and feeding problems and a small, but increased, risk of death.
Groups including the March of Dimes have been working for several years to educate women about those risks. Many hospitals now have programs in place to stop elective early deliveries.
Those efforts have had a "significant effect," but the new terminology will help too, says Elliott Main, medical director of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative. "It's really nice for doctors to be able to say this is a national effort and we are trying to improve outcomes. Mothers want better outcomes for their kids."
Still, the cautions on early deliveries "should not panic women who go into labor spontaneously at 37 weeks," or who need to deliver early because they or their babies have medical problems, Ecker says. Early delivery can be justified by conditions from dangerously high blood pressure in a mother to poor growth in a baby, he says. "We are not saying deliveries before 39 weeks should be a 'never' event, but we are saying there should be a conversation."
Main says one reason planned early deliveries have higher risks is that doctors and patients sometimes miscalculate due dates. Babies themselves are better judges, he says, as evidenced by the fact that women who go into spontaneous labor at 37 or 38 weeks tend to have healthier babies than those who choose such early deliveries.
"Spontaneous labor set off by the baby is sign that the baby is really ready to be born," he says.
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