Less than 5% of babies are born on their due date.

This is because a full term pregnancy cab be anywhere from 37-42 weeks.

Our Midwife, Edwina likes to tell all Birth Beat Mummas to add 2 weeks on to their due date, or even give a vague time such as your due month. Here’s why:

“Even as a Midwife I knew how unlikely it was for babies to arrive on their due date, but just saying that date over and over throughout pregnancy left me feeling disappointed when it didn’t happen.”

First day of last period: This is the most common due date calculation method. The process involves adding 40 weeks (280 days) to the first day of your last period.

Date of conception: This method is less common as many women don’t know the exact date of conception unless they were closely trackin ovulation. The process is pretty simple – add 266 days to your conception date.

If you conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), you can calculate your due date using your embryo transfer date.

Day 3 embyro transfer: Add 263 days to your transfer date.

Day 5 embryo transfer: Add 261 days to your transfer date.