best time for anatomy scan

[RunawayBunny]

At a LLL meeting today there is a woman who works in labor and delivery at a hospital. She is 3 weeks behind me in her pregnancy. She told me she was having her scan done in a week or so at 17w3d. She then said that docs seem to be preferring them earlier these days. Another women gave her a funny look which I dont think she caught, but I know is because she had hers done at 24.5 weeks.

So anyways, I tried to Google it but didn't come up with much. I thought my OB with ds told me there was an optimal time frame. Just curious, mine is scheduled for 21 weeks and wont be rescheduled, regardless.

[AleahDeann]

My midwives always prefer after 20 weeks, mine were at 20, 22, and 21 weeks. I have never heard that they prefer it sooner.

[my2sweets]

I've always heard (and had mine done) b/t 18-20 wks

[EmilytheStrange]

Mine insisted at 20 weeks. I tried to move it to 21 weeks to accomodate my schedule, but they were insistent, so I just moved other things around.

My understanding is that doctors generally prefer to do it before 23weeks so that the mother can choose to abort if something unwanted is discovered. There was a thread I read the other day about a doctor who only did them at 24 weeks because he was anti-abortion. but, I think the laws may vary by state.

I would think that some doctors might consent to doing them earlier (like 17 weeks) because some parents get really insistent on finding out the gender as early as possible. If your doctor won't do it earlier, they go and pay for their own scans and perhaps that causes problems, so perhaps some doctors circumvent that by having early scans.

Aside from the abortion issue, you don't want to get your ultrasound too late because chubby babyness supposedly makes some measurements harder to do.

[bumminbeachbabe]

With my first it was no earlier than 18 weeks, but I think I had it done closer to 20. It was office policy.

My second they did it at 17 weeks because my oldest jumped on my stomach and my midwife was being cautious.

This bean is at 20 weeks (December 17) because the office policy is 20 weeks.

[rverrone11]

18-22 weeks is what I've been told, but they usually try to get it closer to 20 weeks. I've had one at 18w 6d, 22 w, and 19w 1d. When I went for mine on Monday, I told the tech I was 19w 1d and he said they prefer 20 weeks.

[Mom2Connor]

My dr's office does them at 20 wks.

[AniMommy]

For my first, the mw wanted 18 weeks because I told her I was declining pre-natal testing. This time (new OB) I was scheduled at 20 weeks and I declined any testing too.

I know that they want it around this time so that they can compare the baby's stats to the "standards." But I haven't heard much accept that they like to do them around 20 weeks.

[paper_girl_76]

With my last 3, it was between 18-20 weeks.

[krismark0]

My doctor wanted me to be AT LEAST 20 weeks. He said if it's done too early something could be missed.

I don't think they want them much past that though just because they start getting too squished in there to see everything easily.