Baby born 5wks early.ped uses her corrected age.family doc does not.who do i listen to?baby right on target with weight/height +milestone for real age

Prematures: Initially and in the first 2 years of life pediatricians assess development based on the corrected age, but later during childhood it is not very important as we expect the child to catch up with other kids his chronological age.

Corrected until 3yrs: For preemies, we calculate %iles based on a corrected age until the child is 3. This correction is more significant the more premature the infant: for 37wk (full term) infants, we don't make any adjustment, so 35wks shouldn't be that big a deal. Besides, the trend of %iles over time is more important than the actual number, so consistency is the most important thing. Pick 1 way & stick with it.

Corrected age is : used for attainment of developmental milestones till age 2, both on screening tests & on assessments. See healthychildren.org Developmental screens are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics at all well-child visits. Screens can be found on firstsigns.org.