How Do You Know if Your Baby Is Ok at 18 Weeks Pregnant
Noticing a rumbling in your tummy?
It could be pregnancy hunger pangs — or it could be the very first signs of fetal movement, which can happen at around week 18 of pregnancy.
Your Baby at Week 18
Don't have headphones?
View video transcript.
At 18 weeks, your little chick is almost the same size every bit that chicken breast on your dinner plate — about five inches long and five ounces in weight.
But don't let his small size fool you — there are big goings-on in that trivial trunk of his this week. Meconium — your babe's first poop — is slowly starting to accrue in his bowels. If your baby's a male child, his prostate gland is forming. And both girl and boy babies now officially sport finger and toe prints. Those tiny swirls and wrinkles marker your baby as uniquely himself from here on out… though at that place'south probably footling need to tell you how especially unique your baby is!
Under major construction at present is your baby's nervous organization. That's the network that coordinates your cutie's every movement. Right now your baby's brain, spinal cord, and nerves go a boost from myelin, a substance that coats the fretfulness and speeds upwardly the time it takes for messages to travel betwixt nerve cells.
Myelin also helps baby'due south nerves grade more than circuitous connections, enabling your teeny mover and shaker to perfect more intricate moves such equally sucking a pollex, clasping hands, and curling his fingers around the umbilical cord.
And guess what, momma! Somebody's listening to you. Infant'south ears accept arrived at their final destination — the sides of his caput — and the tiny bones inside the inner ear accept hardened, allowing your baby to hear some sounds, including the sweetness sound of your vocalism! Now hear this: thanks to all the fourth dimension they spend listening to it in utero, studies show that babies are able to identify their mom's vocalism correct afterward birth. Go along that in listen the next time you serenade your womb with your lullabies…or rock out in the shower. Your little one is all ears!
At a Glance
Tiny fingerprints
Your i-of-a-kind babe is truly i of a kind now, with unique fingerprints on those little fingertips and toes.
Nervus protection
Myelin, a protective insulation, is starting to form effectually babe-to-be's fretfulness. This covering continues to grow until your babe's first birthday.
Girl and boy parts divers
Having a daughter? The fallopian tubes and uterus are now in proper position. A boy? Genitals may be visible on your next ultrasound.
18 weeks meaning is how many months?
If you're 18 weeks meaning, you lot're in month 5 of your pregnancy. Only iv months left to go! All the same take questions? Hither's some more information on how weeks, months and trimesters are broken downwardly in pregnancy.
How large is my baby at 18 weeks?
At 5½ inches long from crown to rump and 5 to 6½ ounces in weight — most the size of that boneless chicken chest y'all're making for dinner — your babe may be large enough now or anytime in the next few weeks for you to feel twisting, rolling, boot and punching in the womb.
Baby is yawning
Now for the skill of the week: The art of the yawn has been mastered by your baby, along with hiccupping, which you lot may feel soon, as well!
In fact, yous might catch a glimpse of that adorable yawn and all those other fetal movements at your ultrasound this month.
Infant'south nervous system is maturing quickly
Something you won't run into on the ultrasound — but you'll learn is in working order — is your babe's nervous arrangement, which is maturing quickly when y'all're eighteen weeks significant.
A network of nerves, now covered with a substance called myelin that helps speed messages from nerve cell to nerve jail cell, are forming more than circuitous connections.
And those in the brain are further developing into the ones that serve the senses of touch, taste, odor, sight and hearing.
Speaking of hearing, your babe's is growing more acute and baby can finally fully hear you this calendar week, making your little i more than conscious of sounds that come from inside your body. Pregnant you could both be listening to each other hiccup!
Your Body at Week 18
Quick growth
Is it a girl? A male child? How virtually a sizeable fruit or vegetable? At 18 weeks, your baby is about the length of a cucumber and your uterus is around the size of a sweetness potato — see how you're working your way through the produce department? It can be felt about 1½ inches beneath your bellybutton — so have a feel.
How Big Are eighteen-Week Bumps?
Your eighteen weeks pregnant belly
When you're 18 weeks meaning, you'll likely look noticeably pregnant, since your baby and uterus are growing chop-chop. But recollect that every woman is different every bit is each pregnancy, so fifty-fifty this far along, some still have small bumps while others have popped a lot.
All baby bumps at 18 weeks pregnant are fine and normal and may vary based on how much weight y'all and babe are gaining, your top and build, and whether this is your first pregnancy or non.
Only don't size up your 18 weeks pregnant abdomen next to those of pregnant friends at the same stage, or worry that you're measuring too big or also small. If you're really concerned, you tin can always talk to your practitioner, only rest assured that if yous and your infant are tracking ordinarily at your prenatal appointments, everything is likely just fine.
Your dorsum aches
Something else yous may be feeling right now: back pain. Your growing uterus shifts your center of gravity — which means your lower dorsum is pulled forward while your abdomen is thrust out — good for tipping off the person who got the concluding seat on the double-decker that y'all're meaning, bad for your back muscles.
Couple that with the changes that the pregnancy hormone relaxin is instituting — namely relaxing all your ligaments, including those that attach your pelvic bones to your spine, and loosening joints — and that leaves y'all with backaches and pains, not to mention a shifting posture.
Reduce pain by using a foot rest to drag your anxiety slightly when sitting. When standing, identify ane pes on a low stool when possible to take some force per unit area off your lower back. A long, warm bath can also practice wonders. And if your back pain just won't quit, be sure to talk to your practitioner.
Reducing heartburn
Forget the burrito with extra jalapeños — sometimes even a seize with teeth of toast will set up your gut on fire these days. That's the trouble with heartburn — an all-too-common symptom that tin can persist throughout your pregnancy. An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of Tums — although you might want to continue those handy, too, since they'll blackball the burn while boosting your calcium intake.
For starters, eat slowly and chew thoroughly. Try not to eat lunch on the run or gobble your dinner standing up, and eat smaller meals and snacks rather than five-alarm gut bombs.
Subsequently yous finish eating, sit upright for a few hours, or every bit long as you can terminal without collapsing into bed, and slumber with your head elevated, which likewise helps with the snoring. And do skip annihilation on the menu with a motion-picture show of a flame adjacent to it!
Pregnancy Symptoms Week 18
Fetal motion
Bloating and gas
Leg cramps
Bleeding gums
Edema (swelling in feet and ankles)
Stretch marks
Tips for You lot This Week
Don't brand any sudden moves
During pregnancy, progesterone increases the flow of blood to your baby, resulting in lower blood pressure and reduced blood period to your brain — giving you that faint feeling all over.
To assistance stave off dizziness, always stand upward from a sitting or lying position slowly.
Interview pediatricians
Now'southward a swell time in your pregnancy to interview potential pediatricians. After all, there'southward a adept chance that the doctor volition starting time see your baby inside 24 hours of your lilliputian 1's birth.
So ask a lot of questions before you make your option and broach topics like appointment availability, hospital affiliations, vaccines and circumcision.
Time for relaxin?
Unfortunately, nosotros don't hateful "relaxing." During the 2d trimester, your trunk releases relaxin, a hormone that (as the name implies) loosens the ligaments that hold your bones together. The result: an achy pelvis and hips — and peradventure even bigger feet!
You may be cursing this pregnancy hormone at present, but when you lot're trying to button out your baby's big caput, you'll exist thanking relaxin for doing its job.
Pump iron
Even crimson-meat eaters can take a hard time getting enough iron from their diets. If you're someone who sticks to plant-based foods, you'll accept to double your efforts to pump up the iron — vegan and vegetarian momshoped-for have a higher take a chance for iron-deficiency anemia.
Foods like beans, soy products, oat bran, barley, pumpkin seeds, dried fruits, spinach, seaweed, Jerusalem artichokes and blackstrap molasses all have some iron in them, but y'all may also need to take an iron supplement to make sure you're meeting your daily quota. Ask your practitioner whether that'southward the case.
Be wary of supplements
Herbal supplements do brand the near tempting of promises — specially when pregnancy leaves you with few self-medicating options. Would it really hurt to pop a couple of ginkgo biloba capsules to give your brain cells a fighting chance of remembering to pay this month'due south electric bill? Afterward all, the bottles say "all natural"…and y'all did buy them at the health food store.
Really, it could hurt — particularly now that you lot're sharing those pills with a little someone else. Herbs and herbal remedies are non tested or approved by the Nutrient and Drug Administration (FDA) prior to going on the market place and are not required to undergo clinical trials, and then their safety, or lack thereof, is unknown.
Fifty-fifty supplements that you've heard could exist helpful could actually exist harmful at different points during your pregnancy — by causing premature labor if taken too early, for instance.
And a number of herbs — such every bit basil oil, black or blueish cohosh, clove oil, sassafras, wild yam and many others — tin be downright dangerous if taken anytime during pregnancy. Be safety and check with your practitioner before you pop whatsoever pill.
Avert some workout moves
Certain exercises may work slap-up for the non-significant set, just now that yous're expecting, don't even call up about trying them.
Just say no to upside-downwardly "bicycles," shoulder stands, or flat-on-your-back positions after the quaternary month.
Also off-limits: deep-knee bends, back bends, jumping and bouncing.
Get ready for tiny kicks
You'll probably notice infant'due south get-go lilliputian kicks anytime between weeks eighteen and 22 — and sometimes as late as weeks 23 or 24 for first-time pregnancies.
Those tiny anxiety tin be felt in many dissimilar ways: as the merest palpitate, the almost insistent slug or gas bubbling that aren't gas at all.
As for when and how you'll feel your infant move? Several factors come into play: a mom's size (the slimmer yous are, the more probable you'll feel movements before); your muscle tone (the laxer the uterine muscles, the easier it is to experience those kicks — which is why 2nd-timers generally feel them sooner); and the infant'southward position (it'south trickier to notice movement when your infant kicks facing in).
An incorrect due engagement tin can also throw off the recognition of those awe-inspiring first kicks. Don't worry: There'south no mistaking the existent matter once your baby gets the technique down — and gets big plenty to pack a serious punch.
Recommended Products
What to Expect selects products based on independent research and suggestions from our community of millions of parents; learn more well-nigh our review process. We may earn commissions from shopping links.
Boppy Side Sleeper Pregnancy Pillow
See Now
⚠️ You can't see this cool product because yous take ad block enabled.
Please whitelist our site to get all the best deals and offers from our partners.
Leacho Snoogle Chic Extra Long Total Body Pillow
See Now
Motherhood Maternity Maternity Breadbasket Sleeve
See At present
⚠️ You can't see this cool product because you have ad block enabled.
Please whitelist our site to get all the all-time deals and offers from our partners.
Cache Coeur Signature Maternity Brief
Run into At present
Motherhood Maternity Wrap Nursing Sleep Bra
Meet Now
⚠️ You lot can't come across this cool product considering you have advertizing block enabled.
Please whitelist our site to get all the best deals and offers from our partners.
⚠️ You can't see this absurd product considering you have ad block enabled.
Delight whitelist our site to get all the best deals and offers from our partners.
Source: https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/week-18.aspx
0 Response to "How Do You Know if Your Baby Is Ok at 18 Weeks Pregnant"
Post a Comment