baby milestones

My twin boys turned a month old yesterday, they were born 3 weeks early(37w0d), my question is since they were early do they still reach milestones at the same time as babies born on time, (i.e. smiling at 5-6 weeks, rolling over, etc...) or do I need to adjust their age like they do for premature babies?

 

This is my Q too! Since its 38 avg for twins do we adjust one week or three?

 

mine were 34 weekers and have met just about every milestone on time if not earlier than a full term baby. at 37 weeks i wouldnt adjust their age or anything since thats pretty much full term with a multiples pregnancy

 

Mine were born at 36 week. They seem to do everything earlier than supposed to without even adjusting. I think every baby is different and milestones have a wide range (ex. Walking is "normal" from 9 months to 18 months).

I never adjusted mine as full term is considered at 38 weeks for singleton and generally 37 weeks for twins so 2 weeks did no seem like a big deal to me plus no NICU and normal weights made my decision clear.

 

there's no requirement to either adjust or not adjust. the deal with adjusting age is that it gives you a bit of a cushion keep in mind if you feel like you're not seeing milestones met on time. you don't "have" to adjust, but you certainly can.

essentially it just means that if you expect to see a first smile by 10 weeks and you still haven't seen one, you might wait until 13 weeks before being concerned that they've missed a milestone. you can also take it into consideration when deciding whether to do CIO, start solids, etc.

at 3 weeks premature your pedi may or may not choose to chart their growth on a preemie curve. but again, it's really more for guidance than any mandatory correction.

 

Mine were born at 36wks 5 days (and my singleton at 37wk 2 days) and I've never once thought about "adjusting" their age... All were healthy from the beginning and have reached milestones on time! If you ever start to get concerned talk to your pediatrician!

 

37 weeks is considered term for any baby. I am a pediatrician and I only adjust for weight if they are less than 35. For milestones, I tell parents that depending on how premature the child is they might be behind on their milestones but it doesn't really follow the adjusted age. This is because babies start to catch up and you may start to see things "on time" by the time they are 6-9 months old. Social milestones are the first to catch up, followed by language, gross motor and then fine motor.

I do use adjusted age on babies born 35 weeks and under to guide feeding decisions because this is one of the last things to mature in fetal development.

Keep in mind that the ages they list for milestones are just a guideline and are often an average age. Early milestones usually have less of a range (smiling, cooing, focusing) because they depend only on brain development and as they get older the motor milestones have much more of a range. Mine were 37 weekers too, and my son has always done everything on time or early, but my daughter has always been a little bit slower than him when it comes to motor development.

 

I don't think it matters. Mine were considered premature, born at 35 weeks due to pre-eclampsia, and everyone would say "use their adjusted age". My boys hit all the milestones on target with full term babies with the exception of foods but I have special babies...lol.

So no worries. You carried much longer than a lot of us around here so they shouldn't have a problem.