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Recent findings suggest that maternal vitamin D insufficiency during pregnancy has consequences for the offspring's bone health in later life. To investigate whether maternal vitamin D insufficiency affects fetal femur growth in ways similar to those seen in childhood rickets and study the timing during gestation of any effect of maternal vitamin D status, we studied 424 pregnant women within a prospective longitudinal study of maternal nutrition and lifestyle before and during pregnancy (Southampton Women's Survey). Using high‐resolution 3D ultrasound, we measured fetal femur length and distal metaphyseal cross‐sectional area, together with the ratio of femoral metaphyseal cross‐sectional area to femur length (femoral splaying index). Lower maternal 25‐hydroxyvitamin vitamin D concentration was not related to fetal femur length but was associated with greater femoral metaphyseal cross‐sectional area …