When Can a Baby Survive Out of the Womb

What Is the Historic period of Fetal Viability?

Medically Reviewed by Andrei Rebarber, M.D.

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on August two, 2021

Every baby is dissimilar, just the outlook for the earliest of preemies often depends on when they're born.

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If y'all're faced with the possibility of giving birth very early on, you lot're likely filled with questions and concerns about fetal viability.

While information technology's non possible to know all the answers most what volition happen when your infant arrives, her gestational age and other key factors tin can help tell you some more most what the hereafter might hold.

What is fetal viability?

In biological terms, viability is the ability to survive successfully. A fetus is considered viable if it has reached a stage of evolution where it is able to live outside of its mother's womb.

Gestational age is a major determining factor in whether a babe will be viable, since the longer a fetus spends in the womb, the more fully developed it is when it enters the world. That said, in that location are other important considerations that can decide whether a babe built-in very early volition ultimately survive. These include:

• Fetal weight. In general, babies weighing at to the lowest degree 600 grams (almost i.iii pounds) at birth have a higher risk of viability compared to those who counterbalance less.
• Fetal sex and plurality. Some research shows that girls are more likely to survive when built-in at earlier ages compared to boys, while preemie singletons ofttimes fare meliorate than compared to early-born multiples.
• The care a woman receives before birth. In some cases, treatments like corticosteroids, antibiotics or magnesium during pregnancy (ofttimes merely before commitment) tin help increment a babe's chance for survival afterward nativity.
• The intendance a baby receives immediately later nascency. Babies who are born in hospitals with an advanced neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can more likely go the life-saving treatments they need right away.

What is the point of fetal viability?

Fetal viability depends on many different factors, making it hard to pinpoint an age at which a baby born very, very early can definitely survive.

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Babies born before the 3rd trimester (before 27 weeks of pregnancy) are considered periviable — or near the limit of viability. Because they're still very underdeveloped, periviable babies crave life-saving interventions immediately after delivery and receive avant-garde intendance in a high-level NICU setting in order to survive. Even with the best possible intendance, they may experience short- and long-term problems.

While all births that occur before the third trimester pose extremely loftier risks, the odds for survival increase significantly at around 24 weeks. What'due south more, medical advances mean that the survival rates for very premature babies — including those born earlier 24 weeks — are higher than ever.

Hither's what past research and the American Higher of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has found nigh viability based on gestational historic period:

• 26 weeks. Equally a fetus reaches its final week of the 2nd trimester, the odds for viability are between 86 and 89 percent.
• 25 weeks. Fetuses at 25 weeks have around a 67 to 76 percent chance of viability.
• 24 weeks. Doctors typically consider the 24-week mark to be the point of potential viability, though at that age, survival is still far from guaranteed. Fetal viability at 24 weeks ranges from 42 to 59 pct, according to ACOG. Just some studies have found the chances for survival to run equally high every bit 68 percent.
• 23 weeks. Babies built-in at 23 weeks typically have a 23 to 27 percent risk for survival.
• 22 weeks or earlier. The chances of viability before 23 weeks is low — about five to 6 per centum.

How can I tell if my pregnancy is viable?

It's not possible to know with full certainty how a fetus built-in very prematurely volition fare. Just your provider can estimate your baby's chances for success based on things like her gestational historic period, her estimated weight, every bit well as other factors that can contribute to premature nascence.

They'll besides consider the level of care that you can receive throughout the residual of your pregnancy and the intendance that your babe can receive after birth.

Taking all of these variables into account, your provider tin likely go a sense of the outlook. Yous can discuss those odds together and what care for your babe might entail after birth and use that information to brand a decision well-nigh how all-time to motion frontwards.

Periviable birth vs premature nativity

Periviable births are births that occur very, very prematurely — before the third trimester. A periviable fetus may take developed enough to survive beyond the womb, but non without advanced medical intervention and care. These types of births are very rare, occurring in just 0.5 pct of pregnancies.

Premature birth, on the other hand, is an umbrella term for whatever birth that occurs after xx weeks and before 37 weeks of pregnancy. In 2019, i in 10 babies built-in in the U.Southward. were premature.

All premature babies are at higher take a chance for health and developmental problems and may require a stay in the NICU. Yet, babies born after 32 weeks are at significantly lower risk compared to those born sooner, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Questions about fetal viability don't ever have articulate answers. While older, more adult babies accept a better chance at a more successful outcome, the success of periviable births also depend on the care that you lot and your baby receive before and after nascency. And thank you to medical advances, the odds for even the teeniest preemies are getting improve all the fourth dimension.

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author ofWhat to Await When You're Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses but credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic inquiry institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we continue our content accurate and up-to-engagement by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

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