How your

baby grows
during
pregnancy

Ruth A. Ambon RN, RM, MAN

1st month of pregnancy

- Tiny limb buds appear, these grow into your baby’s arm and
legs
- Heart and lungs also begin to form
- By the 22nd day the heart starts to beat
- Nueral tube begins to form
- It becomes the brain and spinal cord
- It is important to take a multivitamin with at least 400
mcgs of folic acid before getting pregnant
- Folic acid helps prevent birth defects in the brain and
spinal cord
-by the end of the first month the baby is about ¼ inch long
Brain Heart and lungs are forming
- Placenta is working
- Placenta grows in the uterus and supplies the baby with
food and oxygen through the umbilical cord throughout
pregnancy
You can pass bad things through the placenta
- Alcohol
- Nicotine
- drugs
- Ears
- Wrist
- Fingers
- Toes
- Ankles
- Toes Are formed
- Eyelids form and grow but are sealed shut
- 1 inch long
- Weighs less than 1/3 ounce
Fingernails and toenails are formed
Baby’s mouth has 20 buds that will become
baby teeth
Fine hairs begin to form on the baby’s skin
You can hear your baby’s heartbeat for the first time
Ask you provider to let you listen
- 2 ½ to 3 inches long
- Weighs 1 ounce
4th month
- Baby moves kicks and swallows
Placenta keeps providing food
- Avoid harmful substances
 - 6 to 7 inches long
- Weighs 4 to 5 ounces
5th Month

- Baby becomes more active

 turns from side to side
 Head-over-heels
 Sleep and wakes up
 - 10 inches long
- Weighs ½ to 1 pound
6th month
- skin is red and wrinkled
- Covered with fine soft hair
- Can kick strongly
- Eyes are almost completely formed and can start to open and
close
- 12 inches long
- Weighs ½ to 2 pounds
7th month
- Open and close eyes
- Suck thumb
- Kicks and stretches
- Respond to light and sound
- 15 to 16 inches long
- 2 ½ to 3 pounds
8th month
- Baby is getting bigger
- Kicks strongly
- Roll around
You may see the shape of elbow or heel against the belly
- Fingernails have grown to the tips of his fingers
- Brain and lungs and other organs are still growing
- It takes 39 weeks in the womb to fully grow and develop if
your pregnancy is healthy it is best to stay pregnant for at
least 39 weeks
18 to 19 inches long
Weighs 4 to 5 pounds
* You gain 1 pound a week this month
9th Month
- Move to a head down position and rest lower in your belly
- Gains about ½ pound a week
- Lungs are ready to work on their own
- 19 to 21 inches long
- 6 to 9 pounds