A neonate born at 29 weeks gestational age has an EEG performed at 8 weeks old. What is her conceptional age?

Conceptional age, also referred to as gestational age, is the age of the fetus that is calculated from the time of conception. It is the total time that the fetus has been developing in the womb, typically measured in weeks.

To calculate the conceptional age of a neonate, you add the gestational age at birth to the postnatal age. In this scenario, the neonate was born at 29 weeks of gestational age and is now 8 weeks old (postnatal age). By adding these two ages together:

29 weeks (gestational age) + 8 weeks (postnatal age) = 37 weeks (conceptional age).

This means that when the neonate is assessed at 8 weeks postnatally, the conceptional age is 37 weeks, which aligns with typical full-term pregnancy duration (about 40 weeks). Therefore, the correct answer reflects this calculation, emphasizing the overall developmental stage of the neonate.