If you love keeping track of your Baby’s development, you will love these pregnancy milestones!
Being pregnant is such a special time. While it may feel like it lasts forever, it will pass sooner than you realize and you’ll be settled into motherhood.
Pregnancy is a magical journey. Each week your Baby is changing and reaching new pregnancy milestones. Treasure this time and read on for some of the cutest and most wonderful pregnancy milestones by week.
Pregnancy Milestones By Week
8 WEEKS – At 8 weeks, your Baby Is the size of a kidney bean. Your Baby’s arms and legs are growing and their facial features are starting to form.
9 WEEKS – Your baby is the size of a grape and starting to develop their adorable little baby face! There’s an itsy bitsy heartbeat which could be picked up round about now.
10 WEEKS – Your baby is the size of an olive, they now have bones and flex their elbows! Their jawbone is also complete with all their milk teeth ready to pop up!
11 WEEKS – Your baby has tiny nails growing, it’s head and body are the same size and they’re already kicking and clenching their fists! (but you won’t feel it for a long time.)
12 WEEKS – Your baby can now make a fist, your baby is basically fully formed with fingers and toes recognizable and skin so translucent you can see all the blood vessels.
13 WEEKS – Fingerprints start to form, baby can be ID’d now! If you’re having a girl, she already has 2 million eggs in her ovaries. There’s tiny hair all over the body, and the fetus can smell and taste now.
14 WEEKS – Your baby is now the size of a lemon, your breasts will feel more tender and baby has risen out of the pelvic area so you will start to look pregnant.
15 WEEKS – Your baby can hear your heart beating! Baby now has legs longer than their arms and is wiggling and kicking, bringing amniotic fluid into its lungs to help build them up. Baby can sense light now even though they can’t open their eyes.
16 WEEKS – Baby’s hands can grasp now and the nervous system is developed. Since baby is now doing somersaults and co-ordinating their kiosks, you may feel fluttery feelings. Baby also has little toenails!
17 WEEKS – Your baby can hear music that you play, in fact some sounds may make baby jump! Their eyes are still fused shut, but have started moving and their spine has hardened as well as sweat glands getting into gear.
18 WEEKS – Your baby’s eyebrows are starting to grow! Baby is the size of a pomegranate, and the brain can now process the sounds they’re hearing.
19 WEEKS – Baby’s hair starts to grow and a special coating of a substance called vernix forms on the skin so that baby doesn’t come out looking like a wrinkled prune after a 9 month bath.
20 WEEKS – Your baby is now the length of a banana and baby’s genitals are fully formed as are their second set of teeth.
21 WEEKS – Your baby begins to move more and more so you will start to feel the movement. Baby is starting to swallow a lot of amniotic fluid, getting the digestive system going and potentially setting the taste preference for life.
22 WEEKS – Your baby’s eyes have formed, but there is no color yet. Their blood is flowing, pumping oxygen and nutrients around the body.
23 WEEKS – Your baby is the size of a mango with very developed hearing that can pick up everyday sounds around you. Baby also has a sense of movement, so may begin to dance when you play music!
24 WEEKS – Tiny nails are growing, your baby’s brain is rapidly developing and all the hair has grown but there’s no pigmentation which means it’s all-white!
25 WEEKS – Your baby weighs around 1.5 pounds , nipples are forming, hair is gaining color and baby’s nostrils have cleared. Sleep cycles have developed. And the baby’s skin now looks pink like a newborn.
26 WEEKS – Baby is getting fatter and their eyes will open! Their tiny pulse will quicken in response to music. And they may even be able to move in time to a beat!
27 WEEKS – Baby can open and close their eyes and brain activity is becoming quite developed to the point that many scientists believe they dream at this stage! Baby is also starting to suck their thumbs and toes.
28 WEEKS – Your baby can now blink, their sleep cycles are regular and you may be able to work out a pattern. The brain, lungs and liver are finishing off development and baby is very sensitive to light.
29 WEEKS – Baby’s brain is growing fast, controlling breathing and body temperature. Baby is the size of a butternut squash. Your body starts to get milk hormones ready to feed the incoming bundle of joy.
30 WEEKS – Baby is now the size of a cabbage! Baby is quite active and may rest in strange positions. This is very normal as baby moves about before getting into the birth position.
31 WEEKS – Baby is having a growth spurt! Eyelids are opening when baby is awake and shut during sleep. Baby’s pupils now dilate in tune with the amount of light.
32 WEEKS – Baby’s skin is becoming smooth and soft. And baby is putting on about a pound of weight a week. There is less and less space to move about but that’s not stopping baby!
33 WEEKS – Bones are hardening but there’s still a gap in the skull so that baby’s head can compress during birth. Baby may already be in the birth position.
34 WEEKS – Baby’s lungs are well developed, all ready to keep you up all night very soon! Baby’s brain is developing fast so baby is sleeping more to help it and is the size of a cantaloupe melon.
35 WEEKS – Most of baby’s development is finished and from here on mainly puts on weight whilst the immune and nervous systems finish.
36 WEEKS – Your baby is around 18 inches long and is shedding both the tiny white hairs and the protective vernix covering.
37 WEEKS – Your baby’s brain continues to mature. They likely have a full head of hair and are jabbing you with their elbows! Babies born now are fully developed.
38 WEEKS – Baby is getting plumper as well as beefing up their immune system with antibodies from you and letting their lungs grow a little more.
39 WEEKS – Your baby is the size of a small watermelon and is almost popping! The brain is developing still. And there is almost no room to move at all now.
40 WEEKS – Your baby is ready to meet you! Wow, you did it, time to enjoy your little miracle!
We hope you enjoyed these pregnancy milestones! Pregnancy is a magical time and sure to be one you want to look back upon again and again. From announcing your pregnancy, to revealing your Baby’s gender, to Baby Showers, there is lots to celebrate!
You can capture each milestone using our gorgeous Pregnancy Milestone stickers. Each sticker features a milestone for each week. So you can capture your growing bump and growing Baby as each week passes.
Whether photo memories or a physical scrapbook, you’ll want to create a keepsake. And these stunning stickers are just what the doctor ordered!
You can buy the pregnancy milestone stickers right here!
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About Author
Jane Sheriff is the founder, creative director, party planner and mom of three. She started Darling Celebrations back in 2012 to share easy and beautiful ideas for celebrating the special events in life.
