Short femur at 20 week scan

[Star15]

Hi everyone

We had our 20-week scan today. Everything was fine except femur length which was below the 3rd centile. We were sent up to the FMU and a midwife said we will need to go back for another scan with a consultant so baby can be measured again. They’ve also taken some bloods. She said it could all be fine, it could indicate an infection or it could indicate Down’s Syndrome. She said she thought the likelihood of Down’s was quite low given that my 12-week screening came back all low risk but there’s still a chance.

We will get a call tomorrow and should have the scan within 72 hours so will probably be Wednesday or Thursday which seems like forever away.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Midwife said to try not to worry as all could be ok, and the short femur is the only concern, but it came as such a shock. Baby was very active and sonographer was struggling to get some measurements but seemed sure she’d got an accurate measurement of the femur x

[CasseyBaby]

Yes they did the same with me! Said my baby may have deformities!! He came out healthy and long legs!!!

I’ve heard a lot of stories the same!!!

[Hidden]

I am sorry to hear you are going this it must be so stressful for you both.

I have no experience of this but we had difficulties with our 20 weeks scan because our naughty baby would get in a position where the sonographer could see her organs; I had to wee, do jumping jacks & lie on my side!!! Luckily she was able to see all her organs eventually!!! 🤣

I am hoping all is well at your next scan & I hope it was just baby moving so much that the sonographer got an inaccurate measurement of the femur.

Do let us know how you get on, will be thinking of you xoxo

[Hidden]

My best friend's second baby's limbs were measuring small on scans. He is now a happy and generally healthy, active 1 year old now but does have small limbs which they are still investigating. He has allergies or intolerances to all sorts of foods so it could be linked to that as my friend didn't know about his allergies during pregnancy and ate her usual diet and while breastfeeding to begin with until they worked out what was upsetting him, now she's on a restricted diet and he's still breastfeeding as well as eating solids.

[Ellstar87]

My baby’s femur was 2nd centile at my 30 week scan, having dropped from 25th. He was born via emergency c section at 35 weeks. Totally normal baby, although has developed a milk protein allergy so I’m not allowed to eat dairy anymore as I’m breastfeeding. I have short legs and dad isn’t that tall either so could just be genetic.

[Kcrochet]

Hi hun, sorry you haven't been given the all-clear yet, must be so stressful. Just really hope everything will turn out to be well xx

[Star15]

Thanks so much to you all for your replies. We ended up seeing the consultant on Wednesday. Baby is measuring small, the consultant said my placenta isn’t functioning in the way it should so that could be the reason but there could be an underlying genetic issue. My blood tests for infections came back ok, we are waiting on results from cystic fibrosis testing for myself and my husband. We will have genetic testing next week. The consultant seems pretty sure that the baby will be early because of its size so I will be monitored regularly and they will do a C-section when they think baby would be safer outside of the womb.

It’s been quite a week and we are both pretty exhausted. Just trying to take one step at a time and keep positive x

[AJJ123]

They told my sister there was shadowing on her babies organs indicating this could she serious. She waited 3 weeks for another scan and it turns out there was a fault with the machine! Seriously, on another separate occasion they told her the baby hadn’t grown (numerous scans as high risk) turns out they were wrong about that too xx