How to use the calculator?

Information we need

Last Period’s start date or LMP – The first day of the menstrual period before conceiving. Cycle Length – It is an average gap, in days, between the first day of 2 consecutive periods. You need to measure the duration of the cycle for a couple of months by noting down the first day of the period and the first day of next period to get a fair idea on the menstrual cycle length or Average cycle length.

Information you get

Due date – A date on which you should be in labour and ideally should be able to see your baby. Baby Traits – Based on your due date month, the baby traits are presented according to the expected sun sign. Pregnancy age – how long, in terms of weeks and days, in the pregnancy age you are.

How does the calculator work?

The due date calculator works by adding 280 days (or 40 weeks or 9 months and 7 days) to LMP (Last Menstrual Period) to give you EDD (Estimated Delivery Date). This is the most standard method used across countries for calculating the due date. This is also called as Gestational age (or menstrual age) method. Based on this calculation if your baby is born on the exact due date the actual age of the baby is 38 weeks (and not 40 weeks) considering that ovulation or fertilisation happen 2 weeks after menstruation. Fertilisation age (or ovulatory age) is based on the actual ovulation or conceiving day. The ovulation usually happens 2 weeks after the menstrual period. The egg is available for 12-24 hr post ovulation and this is the only time when sperm and egg can meet to make a baby. If you know when you are ovulating, you can get a better estimate of your EDD. It is usually difficult to estimate the exact ovulation date that why as a standard practice, healthcare professional goes by the first day of last period method.

How accurate is my due date?

Well, frankly no one knows that. In fact, as per a study, only 4-5% baby are born on exact due date. Most of the kids are born on 1-2 weeks either side of the due date. Due date is just an estimate and helps you to be ready in advance for the labour and delivery of your new child.

Can I plan my due date?

Whether you are a mother who is just trying to avoid clash for the birth month for your kids or a teacher trying to take advantage of long holidays or just someone who has some lucky month. You can try and plan the due date to some extent. Even if you are one of those lucky ones who can get pregnant whenever they want to still you can’t plan your due date to 100% extent as it depends on so many other factors like baby growth, any complications on the way or even if everything is fine the baby can arrive 1-2 weeks either side of the due date or even before.