What is the Full Form of EDD


EDD: Estimated Date of Delivery

EDD stands for Estimated Date of Delivery. The term "Estimated Date of Delivery" (EDD) refers to the anticipated date when a pregnant woman will give birth. About 38 to 42 weeks are the typical gestational weeks. It is also known as the "Estimated Due Date". One can predict the expected date by counting 280 days to the first day of the last menstruation. Around 4% of the time, babies are delivered on the day they were expected to be.

EDD Full Form

Involved Steps/ Processes

Estimating the due date generally involves these two steps:

  • Determining which time period should serve as the gestational age's origin. The woman's last regular menstrual period (LMP) or, if a more precise method is available, the matching time determined by that method serves as the preliminary step. These techniques include prenatal ultrasound or adding 14 days to the known number of days from fertilisation.
  • The time mentioned above is then added to the anticipated gestational age at delivery. Since childbirth typically occurs at 280 days (or 40 weeks), this gestational age is commonly used as a conventional estimation for individual pregnancies.

Estimation of Gestational Age

Following are the steps for estimating gestational age:

  • Counting the number of days that have passed since the beginning of the last menstrual period ("LMP").
  • Using the mean gestational ages of other foetuses (or "embryos") of identical size to compare the size of a foetus (or "embryo") to that of a reference group of pregnancies with known gestational ages (such as those determined from the LMP). It is followed even if the gestational age determined by an early ultrasound is contrary to the gestational age determined directly from the last menstrual cycle. The gestational age determined by the early ultrasound is still used for the remaining duration of the pregnancy.
  • When performing IVF ("in vitro fertilisation"), add 14 days to the number of days from "oocyte retrieval" or "co-incubation".

Note: The term EDD is also commonly used for online orders, where it refers to the date when the respective order will most likely be delivered to the specified location.


Next TopicFull Form




Latest Courses