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Infants: Home, Notes and Issues, Fetal Development, Neonatology, Infant Mortality, NCHS, States' Data, Birthmothers, Ultrasound, Fetal Imaging,

Terms: Fetal development (82,026), fetal growth (37,188), length of pregnancy (), fetal growth charts (25), fetal growth chart (33), birth weight (201,942), low birth weight (137,178), birthweight (41,358), low birthweight (41,960), very low birth weight (16,489), very low birthweight (7928), fetal mortality (2639), prenatal care (181,734), fetal development chart (21), fetal growth curve (20), intrauterine growth (25,120), intrauterine growth retardation (20,769), prenatal development (18,103), fetal weight gain (141), fetal biometrics (428), fetal weight estimation (), estimating fetal weight (), fetal growth model (), standard curve (), fetal weight growth (), fetal diagnosis (), 

There are at least two methods of counting.  The more common is weeks from last period, and the more useful for development is weeks from conception.

Ultrasound of Fetal Biometrics and Growth

University of Miami School of Medicine - Department Of Obstetrics And Gynecology

Healthy People 2010

• Healthy People 2010 Objectives
  • Prenatal Care
  • Obstetrical Care
  • Risk Factors

Baby Center - Fetal Development - One Month - Two Months - Three Months - Four Months - Five Months - Six Months - Seven Months - Eight Months - Nine Months

• 			YOUR BABY TODAY
  Weeks 1-3			Conception at Week 3
  Week 4
  Week 5
  Week 6
  Week 7
  Week 8
  Week 9
  Week 10	1.5		1.25 to 1.68 inches
  Week 11	1.75-3.0		1.75 to 2.4 inches Weight: .3 ounces
  Week 12	2.5		2.5 inches Weight: .3 to .5 ounces
  Week 13	3.0		2.6 to 3.1 inches Weight: .5-.7 ounces
  Week 14	3.0-4.0	.5 oz	3.2 to 4.1 inches Weight: 1 ounce
  Week 15	4.0-4.5	1.75 oz	4.1 to 4.5 inches Weight: 1.75 ounces
  Week 16	4.5 (crown to rump)	5.5 oz	4.3 to 4.6 inches Weight: 2.8 ounces
  Week 17	5.0	6 oz	4.4 to 4.8 inches Weight: 3.5 ounces
  Week 18	5.5	7 oz	5 to 5.6 inches Weight: 5.25 ounces
  Week 19	6.0		5.2 to 6 inches Weight: 7 ounces
  Week 20	5.5-6.5	9 oz	5.6 to 6.4 inches Weight: 9 ounces
  Week 21			7.2 inches Weight: 10.5 ounces
  Week 22	7.5		7.6 inches Weight: 12.25 ounces
  Week 23	8.0		8 inches Weight: Almost 1 pound
  Week 24		16-17 oz.  About 85 percent chance of survival	8.4 inches Weight: 1.2 pounds
  Week 25		20 oz	By this time your baby has a pretty good chance of surviving outside the womb
  Week 26	9.0	20-32 oz
  Week 27	15	32 oz
  Week 28		40-48 oz

Westside Pregnancy Resource Center - Fetal Development Overview

• Fetal Development 1st Trimester Color Photos
• Fetal Development 2nd Trimester Color Photos
• Fetal Development 3rd Trimester Color Photos

Ohio Right to Life - When Does Human Life Begin? - Human Development

• When does a developing child become "viable"? That is, what is the earliest a child could be born and still have a chance to survive? Forty years ago doctors put the age of viability at about 30 weeks into pregnancy, or ten weeks premature. Twenty years ago it was 25 weeks. Today it is 20 weeks. 
• Fetal Development (according to the Ohio Dept of Health)

Cobb Pregnancy Services - Pregnancy and Fetal Development

Pro-Life America - Facts of Fetal Development - (*Source: M. Allen et. al., "The Limits of Viability." New England Journal of Medicine. 11/25/93: Vol. 329, No. 22, p. 1597.)

• 23 weeks - 15% chance of viability outside of womb if birth premature.*
• 24 weeks - 56% of babies survive premature birth.*
• 25 weeks - 79% of babies survive premature birth.*

Medscape - Pediatric News  - Preemies How Small Is Too Small? - [Pediatric News 33(8):25, 1999

• In deciding whether and how to treat an extremely premature newborn, physicians would do better to avoid the absolute age and weight limits of viability and to consider instead the points at which there is a 50% probability of survival. ... By that measure, the lower limits of viability currently are 23-24 weeks' gestation and 500-750 g birth weight.
• "There have been reports of survival at gestational ages of 21-22 weeks and at weights of 300-500 g, but these are exceedingly rare." ... At a birth weight of 750 g or less, the incidence of cerebral palsy is 10% and that of severe visual impairment is 25%. Cognitive and behavioral problems abound, with half of surviving children having an IQ less than 85 and requiring special education.

Discovery Health - Tiny Preemies At Risk for Developmental Problems

• The multicenter group evaluated the status of 1,151 infants from around the country, born in the 1990s, who had weighed between 401 and 1000 grams (about 14 to 35 ounces) at birth.  On average, these infants were born at about 26 weeks gestation.

Baylor College of Medicine - Baylor Neonatology -  BCM Pediatrics - Neonatology - 

• NeonatalNews.Net
• Timothy R. Cooper, M.D.
  • "A Single Equation Describes Actuarial Survival for All Gestational Age Infants Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care, Independent of Gestation." Society for Pediatric Research, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 1, 1998.
  • Cooper TR, Berseth CL, Adams JM, Weisman LE. Actuarial survival in the premature infant less than 30 weeks' gestation. Pediatrics 101:975-978, 1998.
  • Interviewed. "Mortality and Morbidity in Babies at the Limits of Viability." By Laura McCarthy, McCall's Magazine

Premature Infant FAQs - Dept of Neonatology

• Weeks	Weight (lbs/oz)	Weight (gm)	Survival
  22-23	less than 1 lb. 1 oz.	less than 500 gm.	less than 1%
  24-25	1 lb. 1 oz. - lb. 10 oz.	501-750 gm.	57%
  26-27	1 lb. 10 oz. - 2 lb. 4 oz.	750-1000 gm.	84%
  28-29	2 lb. 4 oz. - 2 lb. 12 oz.	1001-1250 gm.	93%
  30-31	2 lb. 12 oz. - 3 lb. 4 oz.	1251-1500 gm.	94%
  greater than 32	greater than 3 lbs. 4 oz.	greater than 1500 gm.	greater than 95%

Democratic Policy Committee - 95-1101 Congressional Research Service

• A greater percentage of such infants are expected to survive in the near future with additional advances, however, doctors believe that there is as an anatomical threshold for fetal survival of approximately 23-24 weeks of gestation (about 1 pound). (See Endnote 6.) This anatomical threshold occurs because the fetal lung does not mature sufficiently to allow normal or mechanically assisted respiration before the 23-24 week of gestation.

Crisis Pregnancy - Valley Pregnancy Centre -  Fetal Development

The Original LifeLinks - Fetal development

Abstinence Education - Your Preborn child - Day 1 - 6 to 16 weeks - 5 to 9 months

Fetal Development

Perinatal Research Center - Prematurity Problem - OB GYN Societies

• ACOG -- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
• Society for Women's Health Research
• Society for Gynecologic Investigation
• American Society for Reproductive Health

International Council on Infertility Information Dissemination

Low-Birthweight PORT Cumulative Bibliography

• Barefield ES, Bishnoi RR, Nelson KG, Goldenberg RL. Population costs for newborn infants by survival and gestation age. J Investigative Med 1996;44(1):A14.
• Blair CB, Ramey CT. A risk index for low birth weight infants.

  • Abstract presented at the Gatlinburg Conference on Research Theory in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability. Gatlinburg, TN; March 1994.