Where does a baby grow in the stomach
Fetal development: your baby's digestive system
In this article
- How does my baby's digestion develop in the womb?
- Can my baby digest anything before he's born?
- What are the milestones in my baby's digestive development during pregnancy?
- When will my baby do his first poo?
- What can I do during pregnancy to help my baby’s digestion develop?
How does my baby's digestion develop in the womb?
Your baby doesn't need a fully functioning digestive system until after he's born (Hill 2020). Until then, he gets all the nutrients he needs straight into his bloodstream through the placenta and umbilical cord (Moore et al 2019a).
But as soon as he has his first feed after birth, his system will get to work digesting his milk and breaking down waste into poos and wees. There are plenty of full nappies to come!
It all starts at five weeks of pregnancy, when a layer of cells on the underside of your baby's embryonic body rolls into a long tube. This tube will develop into his digestive tract (Chin et al 2017).
About a week later, his early digestive tract begins to form into three main parts:
- The foregut, which becomes your baby's food pipe (oesophagus), stomach, liver, and pancreas.
- The midgut, which contains most of his small intestine and two-thirds of the large intestine.
- The hindgut, which contains the rest of the large intestine, the rectum, and the anal canal.
(Hill 2020, Sanderson 2019)
By about eight weeks of pregnancy, the tract becomes a solid mass of developing cells and is no longer a tube (Moore et al 2019b). But by 10 weeks, small spaces develop within the tract, expanding to open up the tube again (Moore et al 2019b).
In detail, here's how the parts of your baby's digestive tract develop:
Foregut: oesophagus, stomach, liver, and pancreas
By about seven weeks of pregnancy, your baby’s oesophagus and stomach is forming (Moore et al 2019b).
Around this time, the developing liver appears as a small outgrowth, and the pancreas also starts budding (Moore et al 2019b). These organs support your baby's digestion.
The liver helps to process many nutrients, breaks down fats, and filters out toxins (Hoffman 2019). The pancreas supplies digestive chemicals called enzymes that help to break food into smaller particles (Tang 2019).
Your baby's liver grows quickly at this time because it temporarily becomes the source of his blood cells. That's until his bone marrow can take over the job later in pregnancy (Moore et al 2019b, Palis 2014). For this reason, by 11 weeks your baby's liver accounts for 10 per cent of his weight (Moore et al 2019b).
Midgut: the intestines
The intestines are the longest stretch of the digestive tract, and they grow very quickly. From seven weeks of pregnancy, there is limited space in your baby's tiny body so his intestines start to grow into the base of the umbilical cord (Moore et al 2019b).
By 10 weeks, the small intestine has folded into loops to help create the huge surface area necessary to absorb nutrients from food processed in the stomach (Soffers et al 2015). On the inside of the small intestine, its lining forms finger-like projections called villi. These create an even greater surface area for absorbing nutrients (Chin et al 2017, Sanderson 2019).
At 12 weeks of pregnancy, your baby's intestines start moving out of their temporary home in the umbilical cord and back into his abdomen (Moore et al 2019b).
As the intestine folds, it also continues to lengthen, especially in the last trimester (Hill 2020). By the time your baby is born, his small intestine will be about half the length of an adult's (Hill 2020). That's about 5m long (Collins and Badireddy 2019, Hill 2020)!
Hindgut: rectum and anus
At first, your baby's rectum and anus and the structures that will form his bladder develop together (Moore et al 2019b).
But by nine weeks of pregnancy, two separate regions develop: one for the urinary system and another for the anus and rectum (Moore et al 2019b). The rectum and anal opening are formed by 11 weeks of pregnancy (Bhatia and Bordoni 2019).
Can my baby digest anything before he's born?
Your baby doesn't need to use his digestive tract during pregnancy because of the nutrients he gets via the placenta, but he does start to swallow amniotic fluid by about 13 weeks (Moore et al 2019c).
Any fluid he swallows passes out of his body as wee (Moore et al 2019c) and this waste is removed from the amniotic fluid via the placenta (Moore et al 2019a). By swallowing small amounts, your baby is helping to maintain healthy levels of amniotic fluid (Moore et al 2019a).
By 13 weeks, your baby can also make sucking and chewing movements (Moore et al 2019c). And if his thumb happens to be near his mouth, he may latch onto it (Visembryo 2017).
You may be able to catch a glimpse of him doing this during an ultrasound scan.
By 26 weeks, your baby's intestines may be able to absorb particles into his bloodstream (Bhatia and Bordoni 2019). Some babies also develop the wave-like movements that help to move food along the digestive tract (peristalsis) (Sase et al 2004). As with swallowing, it's just practice for your baby's system at this point, since there's no actual food to move or absorb.
During the third trimester, these wave-like movements in the digestive tract may happen more often (Sanderson 2019, Sase et al 2004) as your baby's gut matures (Sase et al 2005).
What are the milestones in my baby's digestive development during pregnancy?
| Weeks pregnant | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 5 weeks | Your baby's digestive tube starts to form. |
| 7 weeks | His stomach, oesophagus, liver, and pancreas start to form. |
| 8 weeks to 10 weeks | The digestive tube becomes a solid mass of developing cells before hollowing out into a tube again. |
| 7 weeks to 11 weeks | The intestine takes up space in the umbilical cord, forming further loops and villi. These increase the surface area of both the intestine and its lining as it grows. |
| 11 weeks | Your baby's rectum and anus form. |
| 12 weeks | Your baby's intestine moves back into his abdomen from the umbilical cord. |
| 13 weeks | Your baby can suck and swallow amniotic fluid, and meconium starts to build up in his gut. |
| 26 weeks | Wave-like movements may be present in the intestine and some absorption may be possible. |
| 28 weeks to birth | Peristalsis and absorption become more efficient. |
When will my baby do his first poo?
At about the time your baby starts swallowing amniotic fluid, a substance called meconium begins to accumulate in his intestines (Taylor and Lavine 2014).
Meconium is made up of amniotic fluid, mucus, skin cells, and other substances your baby has swallowed while in your womb (Taylor and Lavine 2014). Meconium usually stays in your baby's intestine until after birth, when it comes out as his first poo (Moore et al 2019b).
What can I do during pregnancy to help my baby’s digestion develop?
Make sure you go to your mid-pregnancy ultrasound scan at around 18 weeks to 21 weeks of pregnancy (NHS 2018). During this scan, your sonographer will get an overview of how your baby is developing. She'll check your baby's abdomen, and the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding him (FMF nd, NHS 2018, PHE 2018).
Rarely, an unborn baby's digestive system may not be developing as it should, meaning he isn't swallowing enough fluid, or isn't passing enough urine (Beloosesky and Ross 2019). This may be reflected in the levels of fluid surrounding him, resulting in:
- polyhydramnios, where there's too much amniotic fluid (NHS 2017), or
- oligohydramnios, where there's not enough amniotic fluid (Beloosesky and Ross 2019, FMF nd)
The sonographer carrying out your scan should check for these conditions (FMF nd, PHE 2018).
Sometimes, however, an imbalance in fluid doesn't signify anything and gets better by itself (Carter 2017, FMF nd, Moore et al 2019a).
In either case, your midwife or doctor will offer you extra checks to ensure that you and your baby stay as well as possible (NHS 2017, PHE 2018).
Learn more:
- Baby poo: a visual guide (photos)
- Your baby's poo: what's normal and what's not
- Fetal development timeline
References
Beloosesky R, Ross MG. 2019. Oligohydramnios. UpToDate. www.uptodate.com [Accessed January 2020]
Bhatia A, Bordoni B. 2019. Embryology, gastrointestinal. StatPearls. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
Carter BS. 2017. Polyhydramnios and oligohydramnios. Medscape. reference.medscape.com [Accessed January 2020]
Chin AM, Hill DR, Aurora M, et al. 2017. Morphogenesis and maturation of the embryonic and postnatal intestine. Semin Cell Dev Biol 66:81-93.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
Collins JT, Badireddy M. 2019. Anatomy, abdomen and pelvis, small intestine. StatPearls. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
FMF. nd. Fetal abnormalities by system: amniotic fluid - oligohydramnios. The Fetal Medicine Foundation. fetalmedicine.org [Accessed January 2020]
Hill MA. 2020. Gastrointestinal Tract Development. University of New South Wales Embryology. embryology.med.unsw.edu.au [Accessed January 2020]
Hoffman M. 2019. Human anatomy: picture of the liver. WebMD. www.webmd.com [Accessed January 2020]
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. 2019a. Placenta and fetal membrances. Chapter 7 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th edition. Elsevier.
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. 2019b. Alimentary system. Chapter 11 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th edition. Elsevier.
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG.
2019c. Ninth week to birth. Chapter 6 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th edition. Elsevier.
NHS. 2017. Polyhydramnios. NHS, Health A-Z, Pregnancy and baby. www.nhs.uk [Accessed January 2020]
NHS. 2018. 20-week scan. NHS, Health A-Z, Pregnancy and baby. www.nhs.uk [Accessed January 2020]
Palis J. 2014. Primitive and definitive erythropoiesis in mammals. Front Physiol 5: 3. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
PHE. 2018. NHS fetal anomaly screening programme handbook: valid from August 2018. Public Health England. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk [Accessed January 2020]
Sanderson IR. 2019. Overview of the development of the gastrointestinal tract. UpToDate. www.uptodate.com [Accessed January 2020]
Sase M, Miwa I, Sumie M, et al. 2004. Ontogeny of gastric emptying patterns in the human fetus. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 17(3): 213-7 [Accessed January 2020]
Sase M, Miwa I, Sumie M, et al.
2005. Gastric emptying cycles in the human fetus. Am J Obstet Gynecol 193(3 Pt2): 1000-4 [Accessed January 2020]
Soffers JHM, Hikspoors JPJM, Mekonen HK, et al. 2015. The growth pattern of the human intestine and its mesentery. BMC Dev Biol 15:31. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
Tang JCF. 2019. How does a normal pancreas function? Medscape. www.medscape.com [Accessed January 2020]
Taylor SA, Lavine JE. 2014. Meconium. In Fetal and neonatal secrets. 3rd ed. www.sciencedirect.com [Accessed January 2020]
Visembryo. 2017. Why are you left or right handed?/i> The Visible Embryo. www.visembryo.com [Accessed January 2020]
Show references Hide references
Fetal development: your baby's digestive system
In this article
- How does my baby's digestion develop in the womb?
- Can my baby digest anything before he's born?
- What are the milestones in my baby's digestive development during pregnancy?
- When will my baby do his first poo?
- What can I do during pregnancy to help my baby’s digestion develop?
How does my baby's digestion develop in the womb?
Your baby doesn't need a fully functioning digestive system until after he's born (Hill 2020).
Until then, he gets all the nutrients he needs straight into his bloodstream through the placenta and umbilical cord (Moore et al 2019a).
But as soon as he has his first feed after birth, his system will get to work digesting his milk and breaking down waste into poos and wees. There are plenty of full nappies to come!
It all starts at five weeks of pregnancy, when a layer of cells on the underside of your baby's embryonic body rolls into a long tube. This tube will develop into his digestive tract (Chin et al 2017).
About a week later, his early digestive tract begins to form into three main parts:
- The foregut, which becomes your baby's food pipe (oesophagus), stomach, liver, and pancreas.
- The midgut, which contains most of his small intestine and two-thirds of the large intestine.
- The hindgut, which contains the rest of the large intestine, the rectum, and the anal canal.
(Hill 2020, Sanderson 2019)
By about eight weeks of pregnancy, the tract becomes a solid mass of developing cells and is no longer a tube (Moore et al 2019b).
But by 10 weeks, small spaces develop within the tract, expanding to open up the tube again (Moore et al 2019b).
In detail, here's how the parts of your baby's digestive tract develop:
Foregut: oesophagus, stomach, liver, and pancreas
By about seven weeks of pregnancy, your baby’s oesophagus and stomach is forming (Moore et al 2019b). Around this time, the developing liver appears as a small outgrowth, and the pancreas also starts budding (Moore et al 2019b). These organs support your baby's digestion.
The liver helps to process many nutrients, breaks down fats, and filters out toxins (Hoffman 2019). The pancreas supplies digestive chemicals called enzymes that help to break food into smaller particles (Tang 2019).
Your baby's liver grows quickly at this time because it temporarily becomes the source of his blood cells. That's until his bone marrow can take over the job later in pregnancy (Moore et al 2019b, Palis 2014). For this reason, by 11 weeks your baby's liver accounts for 10 per cent of his weight (Moore et al 2019b).
Midgut: the intestines
The intestines are the longest stretch of the digestive tract, and they grow very quickly. From seven weeks of pregnancy, there is limited space in your baby's tiny body so his intestines start to grow into the base of the umbilical cord (Moore et al 2019b).
By 10 weeks, the small intestine has folded into loops to help create the huge surface area necessary to absorb nutrients from food processed in the stomach (Soffers et al 2015). On the inside of the small intestine, its lining forms finger-like projections called villi. These create an even greater surface area for absorbing nutrients (Chin et al 2017, Sanderson 2019).
At 12 weeks of pregnancy, your baby's intestines start moving out of their temporary home in the umbilical cord and back into his abdomen (Moore et al 2019b).
As the intestine folds, it also continues to lengthen, especially in the last trimester (Hill 2020). By the time your baby is born, his small intestine will be about half the length of an adult's (Hill 2020).
That's about 5m long (Collins and Badireddy 2019, Hill 2020)!
Hindgut: rectum and anus
At first, your baby's rectum and anus and the structures that will form his bladder develop together (Moore et al 2019b). But by nine weeks of pregnancy, two separate regions develop: one for the urinary system and another for the anus and rectum (Moore et al 2019b). The rectum and anal opening are formed by 11 weeks of pregnancy (Bhatia and Bordoni 2019).
Can my baby digest anything before he's born?
Your baby doesn't need to use his digestive tract during pregnancy because of the nutrients he gets via the placenta, but he does start to swallow amniotic fluid by about 13 weeks (Moore et al 2019c).
Any fluid he swallows passes out of his body as wee (Moore et al 2019c) and this waste is removed from the amniotic fluid via the placenta (Moore et al 2019a). By swallowing small amounts, your baby is helping to maintain healthy levels of amniotic fluid (Moore et al 2019a).
By 13 weeks, your baby can also make sucking and chewing movements (Moore et al 2019c). And if his thumb happens to be near his mouth, he may latch onto it (Visembryo 2017). You may be able to catch a glimpse of him doing this during an ultrasound scan.
By 26 weeks, your baby's intestines may be able to absorb particles into his bloodstream (Bhatia and Bordoni 2019). Some babies also develop the wave-like movements that help to move food along the digestive tract (peristalsis) (Sase et al 2004). As with swallowing, it's just practice for your baby's system at this point, since there's no actual food to move or absorb.
During the third trimester, these wave-like movements in the digestive tract may happen more often (Sanderson 2019, Sase et al 2004) as your baby's gut matures (Sase et al 2005).
What are the milestones in my baby's digestive development during pregnancy?
| Weeks pregnant | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 5 weeks | Your baby's digestive tube starts to form. |
| 7 weeks | His stomach, oesophagus, liver, and pancreas start to form. |
| 8 weeks to 10 weeks | The digestive tube becomes a solid mass of developing cells before hollowing out into a tube again. |
| 7 weeks to 11 weeks | The intestine takes up space in the umbilical cord, forming further loops and villi. These increase the surface area of both the intestine and its lining as it grows. |
| 11 weeks | Your baby's rectum and anus form. |
| 12 weeks | Your baby's intestine moves back into his abdomen from the umbilical cord. |
| 13 weeks | Your baby can suck and swallow amniotic fluid, and meconium starts to build up in his gut. |
| 26 weeks | Wave-like movements may be present in the intestine and some absorption may be possible. |
| 28 weeks to birth | Peristalsis and absorption become more efficient. |
When will my baby do his first poo?
At about the time your baby starts swallowing amniotic fluid, a substance called meconium begins to accumulate in his intestines (Taylor and Lavine 2014).
Meconium is made up of amniotic fluid, mucus, skin cells, and other substances your baby has swallowed while in your womb (Taylor and Lavine 2014). Meconium usually stays in your baby's intestine until after birth, when it comes out as his first poo (Moore et al 2019b).
What can I do during pregnancy to help my baby’s digestion develop?
Make sure you go to your mid-pregnancy ultrasound scan at around 18 weeks to 21 weeks of pregnancy (NHS 2018). During this scan, your sonographer will get an overview of how your baby is developing. She'll check your baby's abdomen, and the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding him (FMF nd, NHS 2018, PHE 2018).
Rarely, an unborn baby's digestive system may not be developing as it should, meaning he isn't swallowing enough fluid, or isn't passing enough urine (Beloosesky and Ross 2019). This may be reflected in the levels of fluid surrounding him, resulting in:
- polyhydramnios, where there's too much amniotic fluid (NHS 2017), or
- oligohydramnios, where there's not enough amniotic fluid (Beloosesky and Ross 2019, FMF nd)
The sonographer carrying out your scan should check for these conditions (FMF nd, PHE 2018).
Sometimes, however, an imbalance in fluid doesn't signify anything and gets better by itself (Carter 2017, FMF nd, Moore et al 2019a).
In either case, your midwife or doctor will offer you extra checks to ensure that you and your baby stay as well as possible (NHS 2017, PHE 2018).
Learn more:
- Baby poo: a visual guide (photos)
- Your baby's poo: what's normal and what's not
- Fetal development timeline
References
Beloosesky R, Ross MG. 2019. Oligohydramnios. UpToDate. www.uptodate.com [Accessed January 2020]
Bhatia A, Bordoni B. 2019. Embryology, gastrointestinal. StatPearls. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
Carter BS. 2017. Polyhydramnios and oligohydramnios. Medscape. reference.medscape.com [Accessed January 2020]
Chin AM, Hill DR, Aurora M, et al. 2017. Morphogenesis and maturation of the embryonic and postnatal intestine. Semin Cell Dev Biol 66:81-93.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
Collins JT, Badireddy M. 2019. Anatomy, abdomen and pelvis, small intestine. StatPearls. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
FMF. nd. Fetal abnormalities by system: amniotic fluid - oligohydramnios. The Fetal Medicine Foundation. fetalmedicine.org [Accessed January 2020]
Hill MA. 2020. Gastrointestinal Tract Development. University of New South Wales Embryology. embryology.med.unsw.edu.au [Accessed January 2020]
Hoffman M. 2019. Human anatomy: picture of the liver. WebMD. www.webmd.com [Accessed January 2020]
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. 2019a. Placenta and fetal membrances. Chapter 7 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th edition. Elsevier.
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. 2019b. Alimentary system. Chapter 11 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th edition. Elsevier.
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG.
2019c. Ninth week to birth. Chapter 6 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th edition. Elsevier.
NHS. 2017. Polyhydramnios. NHS, Health A-Z, Pregnancy and baby. www.nhs.uk [Accessed January 2020]
NHS. 2018. 20-week scan. NHS, Health A-Z, Pregnancy and baby. www.nhs.uk [Accessed January 2020]
Palis J. 2014. Primitive and definitive erythropoiesis in mammals. Front Physiol 5: 3. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
PHE. 2018. NHS fetal anomaly screening programme handbook: valid from August 2018. Public Health England. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk [Accessed January 2020]
Sanderson IR. 2019. Overview of the development of the gastrointestinal tract. UpToDate. www.uptodate.com [Accessed January 2020]
Sase M, Miwa I, Sumie M, et al. 2004. Ontogeny of gastric emptying patterns in the human fetus. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 17(3): 213-7 [Accessed January 2020]
Sase M, Miwa I, Sumie M, et al.
2005. Gastric emptying cycles in the human fetus. Am J Obstet Gynecol 193(3 Pt2): 1000-4 [Accessed January 2020]
Soffers JHM, Hikspoors JPJM, Mekonen HK, et al. 2015. The growth pattern of the human intestine and its mesentery. BMC Dev Biol 15:31. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed January 2020]
Tang JCF. 2019. How does a normal pancreas function? Medscape. www.medscape.com [Accessed January 2020]
Taylor SA, Lavine JE. 2014. Meconium. In Fetal and neonatal secrets. 3rd ed. www.sciencedirect.com [Accessed January 2020]
Visembryo. 2017. Why are you left or right handed?/i> The Visible Embryo. www.visembryo.com [Accessed January 2020]
Show references Hide references
Child development by week | Regional Perinatal Center
Expectant mothers are always curious about how the fetus develops at a time when it is awaited with such impatience. Let's talk and look at the photos and pictures of how the fetus grows and develops week by week.
What does the puffer do for 9 whole months in mom's tummy? What does he feel, see and hear?
Let's start the story about the development of the fetus by weeks from the very beginning - from the moment of fertilization. A fetus up to 8 weeks old is called embryo , this occurs before the formation of all organ systems.
Embryo development: 1st week
The egg is fertilized and begins to actively split. The ovum travels to the uterus, getting rid of the membrane along the way.
On the 6th-8th days, implantation of eggs is carried out - implantation into the uterus. The egg settles on the surface of the uterine mucosa and, using the chorionic villi, attaches to the uterine mucosa.
Embryo development: 2-3 weeks
Picture of embryo development at 3 weeks.
The embryo is actively developing, starting to separate from the membranes. At this stage, the beginnings of the muscular, skeletal and nervous systems are formed.
Therefore, this period of pregnancy is considered important.
Embryo development: 4–7 weeks
Fetal development by week in pictures: week 4
Fetal development by week photo: week 4
Photo of an embryo before the 6th week of pregnancy.
The heart, head, arms, legs and tail are formed in the embryo :) . Gill slit is defined. The length of the embryo at the fifth week reaches 6 mm.
Fetal development by week photo: week 5
At the 7th week, the rudiments of the eyes, stomach and chest are determined, and fingers appear on the handles. The baby already has a sense organ - the vestibular apparatus. The length of the embryo is up to 12 mm.
Fetal development: 8th week
Fetal development by week photo: week 7-8
The face of the fetus can be identified, the mouth, nose, and auricles can be distinguished.
The head of the embryo is large and its length corresponds to the length of the body; the fetal body is formed. All significant, but not yet fully formed, elements of the baby's body already exist. The nervous system, muscles, skeleton continue to improve.
Fetal development in the photo already sensitive arms and legs: week 8
The fetus developed skin sensitivity in the mouth (preparation for the sucking reflex), and later in the face and palms.
At this stage of pregnancy, the genitals are already visible. Gill slits die. The fruit reaches 20 mm in length.
Fetal development: 9–10 weeks
Fetal development by week photo: week 9
Fingers and toes already with nails. The fetus begins to move in the pregnant woman's stomach, but the mother does not feel it yet. With a special stethoscope, you can hear the baby's heartbeat. Muscles continue to develop.
Weekly development of the fetus photo: week 10
The entire surface of the fetal body is sensitive and the baby develops tactile sensations with pleasure, touching his own body, the walls of the fetal bladder and the umbilical cord. It is very curious to observe this on ultrasound. By the way, the baby first moves away from the ultrasound sensor (of course, because it is cold and unusual!), And then puts his hands and heels trying to touch the sensor.
It's amazing when a mother puts her hand to her stomach, the baby tries to master the world and tries to touch with his pen "from the back".
The development of the fetus: 11–14 weeks
Development of the fetus in the photo of the legs: weeks 11
The baby, legs and eyelids are formed, and the genitals become distinguishable (you can find out the gender (you can find out the gender child).
The fetus begins to swallow, and if something is not to its taste, for example, if something bitter got into the amniotic fluid (mother ate something), then the baby will begin to frown and stick out his tongue, making less swallowing movements.
Fruit skin appears translucent.
Fruit development: Week 12
Photo of the fetus 12 weeks per 3D Uzi
buds are responsible for production for production urine. Blood forms inside the bones. And hairs begin to grow on the head. Moves more coordinated. The skin turns pink, the ears and other parts of the body, including the face, are already visible. Imagine, a child can already open his mouth and blink, as well as make grasping movements. Baby sucks his thumb, becomes more energetic. Pseudo-feces are formed in the intestines of the fetus - meconium , kidneys begin to work. During this period, the brain develops very actively. The auditory ossicles become stiff and now they are able to conduct sounds, the baby hears his mother - heartbeat, breathing, voice. The fetus intensively gains weight, fat deposits are formed. The weight of the fetus reaches 650 g, and the length is 300 mm. The lungs at this stage of fetal development are so developed that the baby can survive in the artificial conditions of the intensive care unit. Lungs continue to develop. Lips and mouth become more sensitive. The eyes develop, open slightly and can perceive light and squint from direct sunlight. In girls, the labia majora do not yet cover the small ones, and in boys, the testicles have not yet descended into the scrotum. Fetal weight reaches 900–1200 g, and the length is 350 mm. 9 out of 10 children born at this term survive. The lungs are now adapted to breathe normal air. Breathing is rhythmic and body temperature is controlled by the CNS. The baby can cry and responds to external sounds. Child opens eyes while awake and closes during sleep. The skin becomes thicker, smoother and pinkish. Starting from this period, the fetus will actively gain weight and grow rapidly. The fetus reacts to a light source. Muscle tone increases and the baby can turn and raise his head. On which, the hairs become silky. The child develops a grasping reflex. The lungs are fully developed. The fetus is quite developed, prepared for birth and considered mature. The baby has mastered over 70 different reflex movements. Due to the subcutaneous fatty tissue, the baby's skin is pale pink. The head is covered with hairs up to 3 cm. The baby perfectly mastered the movements of his mother , knows when she is calm, excited, upset and reacts to this with her movements. During the intrauterine period, the fetus gets used to moving in space, which is why babies love it so much when they are carried in their arms or rolled in a stroller. The nails protrude beyond the tips of the fingers, the cartilages of the ears and nose are elastic. In boys, the testicles have descended into the scrotum, and in girls, the large labia cover the small ones. The weight of the fetus reaches 3200-3600 g, and the length is 480-520 mm. After the birth, the baby longs for touching his body, because at first he cannot feel himself - the arms and legs do not obey the child as confidently as it was in the amniotic fluid. Therefore, so that your baby does not feel lonely, it is advisable to carry him in your arms, press him to you while stroking his body. And one more thing, the baby remembers the rhythm and sound of your heart very well . Therefore, you can comfort the baby in this way - take him in your arms, put him on the left side and your miracle will calm down, stop crying and fall asleep. August 17, 2018 In 9 months, a child goes a long way from a tiny embryo to a chubby baby and already in the womb acquires some features that will remain with him for life: for example , you can understand whether he will become right-handed or left-handed and what kind of food he will prefer. In a fairly short period of time, a lot of interesting things happen to a child, and today we invite you to go through the path from birth to birth with your baby. 1st trimester of pregnancy So the long journey began. For the first 4 days, the future person is smaller than a grain of salt - its size is only 0.14 mm. However, starting from the 5th day, it begins to grow and by the 6th it almost doubles - up to as much as 0.2 mm. On the 4th day, the embryo "comes" to where it will spend the next 9 months - into the uterus, and on the 8th day it is implanted in its wall. 3rd–4th week © EDITORIAL USE ONLY/East News Embryo at the 4th week of pregnancy. Around the 20th day of pregnancy, a very important event occurs: the neural tube appears, which will then turn into the spinal cord and brain of the child. Already on the 21st day, his heart begins to beat and all important organs, such as the kidneys and liver, begin to form. The eyes have not yet taken their usual position - the bubbles from which they will then take shape are located on the sides of the head. By the end of the 1st month, the embryo has a circulatory system, and the spine and muscles begin to develop. 5th–6th week © EDITORIAL USE ONLY/East News © lunar caustic/wikimedia At the 5th week, the hands appear in the embryo, however, the fingers are still very difficult to distinguish, but in the joints the arms and legs are already bent. 7th–8th week The 7th week of pregnancy is the time when the baby begins to move, however, so far completely unnoticed by the mother, and the fingers and toes become almost the same as in adults. At this stage, the rudiments of milk teeth appear in the embryo and the reproductive system develops, and the kidneys begin to produce urine. Despite the fact that the growth of the fetus is only 2.5 cm, it acquires its own facial expressions, it has eyelids, and the tip of the nose becomes more defined. 9th–10th week Baby at 9-10 weeks of gestation. By this time, the baby has already grown well - its weight is 4 grams, and its height is 2-3 cm. Despite its tiny size, the brain is already divided into two hemispheres, and milk teeth and taste buds are beginning to form. The baby's tail and membranes between the fingers on the hands disappear, he begins to swim in the amniotic fluid and move even more actively, although still unnoticed by the mother. It was at this time that the child's individual facial features appear, and hair begins to grow on the head. 11–12 weeks At this time, the genital organs are formed in the child, so it is already possible to find out his sex on an ultrasound scan, although the probability of an error is still high. The child still looks a little alien: he has a big head and a small body, but his face is more and more like an adult. The ears are almost in the right position, eyebrows and eyelashes appear. The cartilage that makes up the skeleton gradually ossifies, new blood vessels appear, and hormone production begins. 13th-14th week Despite the fact that the child's head is half the length of the entire body, the face is more and more reminiscent of an adult, and the rudiments of all 20 milk teeth have already been formed in the oral cavity. The child is already able to put his finger in his mouth, but he will learn to suck a little later. Due to the active formation of blood vessels, the baby's skin is red and very thin, so vellus hair appears on the body - lanugo, which is necessary to maintain a special lubricant that protects against hypothermia. 2nd trimester of pregnancy By the 15th week, the baby has grown to 10 cm and is gaining weight - now he weighs about 70 grams. Despite the fact that the eyes are still quite low, the face is already quite recognizable, moreover, the child begins to “make faces”, since the facial muscles are well developed. 17th–18th week And finally, the child's auditory canals are formed, so he begins to distinguish sounds well and hears the mother's voice, moreover, he is able to recognize it. In addition to the milk teeth, the embryos of the molars also appear, the bones are finally formed and begin to harden. By the way, the bones of the skull will remain mobile until birth - when passing through the birth canal, they will overlap each other to make it easier for the baby to be born. But the mother is finally beginning to feel the movements of the child, who has grown to 14 cm and 190 grams. 19th–20th week Despite the fact that the child's eyes are still closed, he is already well oriented in the surrounding space. Moreover, now you can understand whether the child will be right-handed or left-handed, because right now he begins to use his dominant hand more actively. The 21st week is the time when the baby begins to gain weight due to the formation of subcutaneous fat. Soon, the folds that newborns have will appear on his arms and legs. On the 22nd week, those neurons are formed in the brain that will be with a person all his life. Very soon the child will open his eyes, he is already trying to do this, and the eyeballs move almost like an adult. 23–24 weeks At 23 weeks, the baby may begin to dream, and his face is so formed that an ultrasound can determine whose facial features he has inherited. His skin becomes opaque, his eyes open, and the child can already react to light, moreover, bright flashes can scare him. By the 24th week, the baby grows to almost 30 cm, and its weight reaches 0. 25th–26th week At this time, the taste buds of the child are finally formed and, tasting the amniotic fluid, he can frown if he does not like it. By the way, this is how eating habits are formed - already in the womb we have our favorite and unloved foods. Very soon the child will learn to blink and can already see a little, however, so far it is very, very vague. 3rd trimester of pregnancy If you do an ultrasound at this time, you can see how the baby smiles and intensively sucks his thumb. At this time, the baby has the first "toy" - his own umbilical cord, and he actively studies his body. At the end of the 7th month of pregnancy, the child develops an individual metabolism, which he will have all his life. The baby is already quite large - his weight reaches 1.2 kg, and his height is 35 cm. Week 29-30 Baby at 30 weeks pregnant. The layer of subcutaneous fat is increasing, and the baby is becoming more and more plump and well-fed. In addition, he already knows how to cry, cough, and even sometimes hiccups - this happens, most likely, when he swallows too much amniotic fluid. By the 30th week, the baby's brain is already so developed that it is quite capable of remembering and even analyzing information. 31–32 weeks At this time, a person has all 5 senses, and his daily routine is more and more reminiscent of the one he will follow after birth. The child hears the work of all the organs of the mother, knows her voice perfectly, thanks to which, immediately after birth, he is able to distinguish her from all other people. The baby's immune system begins to produce antibodies that will protect him from all kinds of infections that may lie in wait in the first days and months after birth. 33–34th week And finally, subcutaneous fat is already formed, and lanugo disappears from the body of the fetus. 35th–36th week The child yawns. 3D ultrasound at 36 weeks pregnant. At this time, the child looks almost exactly the same as when he was born. He is still quite thin, but the layer of subcutaneous fat is increasing more and more intensively. However, his hair and nails are already fully developed, and he himself becomes so big that he has almost no room to maneuver, so he can move less than in earlier stages. 37–38th week And finally, the process of forming a person has finally ended - now he is completely ready for birth, and obstetricians consider the pregnancy to be full-term. Lanugo completely disappears from his body and can only sometimes remain on his arms and legs.
Development of the fetus for weeks: Week 14 9000 9000 Fetal development: 15-18 weeks
Fetal development by weeks photo: week 15 
The fetus begins to actively push in the mother's tummy. The sex of the fetus can be determined by ultrasound. Fetal development: 19-23 weeks
Fetal development by week photo: week 19
Fetal development by weeks photo: week 20 Fetal development: 24-27 weeks
Now the baby is already falling asleep and waking up. Downy hairs appear on the skin, the skin becomes wrinkled and covered with grease. The cartilage of the ears and nose is still soft.
Fetal development by week photo: week 27 Fetal development: 28-32 weeks
Almost all babies born prematurely at this time are viable. The weight of the fetus reaches 2500 g, and the length is 450 mm. Fetal development: 33-37 weeks
Fetal development by week photo: week 36 Fetal development: 38-42 weeks
Fetal development by weeks photo: week 40 
For a baby, this is a completely natural state, so he will calm down and fall asleep when he is rocked. 
And for you, finally, the time of bliss will come :) . What does a child do while it is in the mother’s belly
1st–2nd week 
It was at this time that the external genitalia begin to form, but it is not yet possible to see on an ultrasound whether it is a boy or a girl. By the way, since its appearance, the embryo has grown a lot - it has increased by as much as 10 thousand times. Already now, the baby's face is beginning to form, and the eyes, which will be closed for a very long time, darken, becoming more human-like.
© lunarcaustic/wikimedia 
By the way, the baby has already grown up to 6 cm and weighs about 20 grams.
Baby at 14 weeks pregnant.
15th–16th week 
By this time, he already knows how to suck his thumb, and the sebaceous and sweat glands begin their work.
Baby at 20 weeks pregnant. 
Fingerprints appear on the baby's fingers - another unique sign of each of us. By the way, the child is already beginning to gradually distinguish day from night and is active at a certain time.
21–22 weeks 
5 kg.
27th–28th week
Baby at 27–28 weeks of gestation.
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By this time, the baby has grown a lot - the length of his body reaches 40 cm, and the weight is very close to or even exceeds 2 kg. The baby's nervous system is already fully formed, but the lungs are still developing.
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