What concerns are linked to post-term pregnancy?
Most often, a post-term baby is born in good health. But a very small number of post-term pregnancies are linked to stillbirth and infant death. This risk increases with each week, up to 10 per 1,000 post-term pregnancies after 43 weeks. 9 This is why your doctor or nurse-midwife will monitor your baby after 40 to 41 weeks. Many health professionals want to lower risks for the post-term baby by delivering by or before 42 weeks. In most cases, watching and waiting is also fine. It is often hard to know which choice is best during the 2 weeks after the due date: 9 • Any time after the due date that a fetal problem shows up in testing, it is time to deliver. • For a cervix that is “favorable” for delivery—is softening, thinning, or opening—many doctors speed up the process by inducing labor. This may start in the doctor’s office with a simple sweeping of the membranes. Watching and waiting until 42 weeks is also a reasonable choice, as long as there are no signs of problems. (There is no
