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 Infant at Calendar week 18

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At xviii weeks, your little chick is about the same size every bit that chicken breast on your dinner plate — about five inches long and 5 ounces in weight.

Simply don't let his small size fool yous — there are big goings-on in that little body of his this calendar week. Meconium — your baby'south first poop — is slowly starting to accumulate in his bowels. If your infant's a boy, 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 equally uniquely himself from here on out… though there's probably little need to tell y'all how peculiarly unique your infant is!

Under major construction now is your baby's nervous arrangement. That'due south the network that coordinates your cutie's every move. Right now your baby'due south brain, spinal cord, and nerves get a boost from myelin, a substance that coats the nerves and speeds up the fourth dimension it takes for messages to travel between nervus cells.

Myelin likewise helps baby'due south nerves form more than complex connections, enabling your teeny mover and shaker to perfect more than intricate moves such as sucking a thumb, clasping hands, and crimper his fingers around the umbilical cord.

And estimate what, momma! Somebody's listening to you. Babe'southward ears take arrived at their final destination — the sides of his caput — and the tiny bones inside the inner ear have hardened, allowing your infant to hear some sounds, including the sugariness sound of your vocalisation! Now hear this: thank you to all the time they spend listening to it in utero, studies evidence that babies are able to identify their mom's vox right after birth. Keep that in mind the adjacent time you lot serenade your womb with your lullabies…or rock out in the shower. Your fiddling one is all ears!

At a Glance

Tiny fingerprints

Your ane-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 course around babyhoped-for's nerves. This covering continues to abound until your baby's get-go birthday.

Girl and boy parts divers

Having a girl? The fallopian tubes and uterus are now in proper position. A male child? Genitals may exist visible on your next ultrasound.

18 weeks pregnant is how many months?

If yous're 18 weeks pregnant, yous're in month five of your pregnancy. Simply four months left to get! Still have questions? Hither's some more information on how weeks, months and trimesters are broken down in pregnancy.

How big is my baby at 18 weeks?

At v½ inches long from crown to rump and 5 to 6½ ounces in weight — about the size of that boneless craven chest you're making for dinner — your infant may be big enough now or someday in the next few weeks for y'all to feel twisting, rolling, kicking and punching in the womb.

Babe is yawning

Now for the skill of the week: The art of the yawn has been mastered by your baby, forth with hiccupping, which y'all may feel presently, too!

In fact, yous might take hold of a glimpse of that ambrosial yawn and all those other fetal movements at your ultrasound this month.

Infant's nervous system is maturing chop-chop

Something you won't meet on the ultrasound — but you'll larn is in working guild — is your babe'south nervous organization, which is maturing rapidly when yous're 18 weeks pregnant.

A network of nerves, now covered with a substance called myelin that helps speed messages from nervus cell to nervus prison cell, are forming more complex connections.

And those in the encephalon are further developing into the ones that serve the senses of touch on, taste, smell, sight and hearing.

Speaking of hearing, your babe's is growing more acute and baby can finally fully hear you lot this week, making your little one more conscious of sounds that come from inside your torso. Significant you could both exist listening to each other hiccup!

Your Trunk at Week 18

18 weeks pregnant woman

Quick growth

Is it a girl? A boy? How well-nigh a sizeable fruit or vegetable? At 18 weeks, your baby is about the length of a cucumber and your uterus is effectually the size of a sweetness potato — see how you're working your way through the produce department? Information technology tin exist felt about i½ inches beneath your belly button — so take a feel.

How Big Are 18-Calendar week Bumps?

Your 18 weeks pregnant belly

When y'all're xviii weeks pregnant, yous'll likely look noticeably pregnant, since your baby and uterus are growing rapidly. But remember that every woman is dissimilar as is each pregnancy, so even this far forth, some still have small bumps while others take popped a lot.

All baby bumps at eighteen weeks pregnant are fine and normal and may vary based on how much weight you and baby are gaining, your height and build, and whether this is your first pregnancy or not.

Just don't size upwardly your 18 weeks meaning belly side by side to those of pregnant friends at the aforementioned stage, or worry that you're measuring too large or besides small. If you're really concerned, you tin can always talk to your practitioner, but rest bodacious that if you and your baby are tracking normally at your prenatal appointments, everything is likely simply fine.

Your back aches

Something else you may be feeling right at present: back pain. Your growing uterus shifts your heart of gravity — which ways your lower back is pulled forward while your belly is thrust out — good for tipping off the person who got the concluding seat on the coach that you're pregnant, 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 adhere your pelvic bones to your spine, and loosening joints — and that leaves you with backaches and pains, non to mention a shifting posture.

Reduce hurting by using a foot residue to elevate your feet slightly when sitting. When standing, place ane foot on a low stool when possible to accept some pressure off your lower back. A long, warm bath can also do 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 bite of toast will set your gut on burn down these days. That'due south the problem with heartburn — an all-besides-common symptom that can persist throughout your pregnancy. An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of Tums — although you might desire to keep those handy, besides, since they'll banish the burn while boosting your calcium intake.

For starters, eat slowly and chew thoroughly. Try non to eat lunch on the run or gobble your dinner continuing upwardly, and eat smaller meals and snacks rather than five-alarm gut bombs.

Afterward you cease eating, sit down upright for a few hours, or equally long every bit y'all tin can terminal without collapsing into bed, and sleep with your head elevated, which also helps with the snoring. And do skip anything on the menu with a picture of a flame next to information technology!

Pregnancy Symptoms Week 18

Fetal movement

If you've noticed an unusual rumbling in your breadbasket these days, you may exist starting to feel your babe's movements in the womb! But don't worry if you oasis't felt annihilation out of the ordinary — it may have a few more weeks for you to pinpoint those get-go kicks. Read More

Bloating and gas

Finding information technology hard to contain the gas bubbling? Try to relax — tension can cause you to swallow air, which only adds to the problem. Read More than

Leg cramps

As if it weren't enough that your precious slumber is interrupted past trips to the bathroom to pee, now you may find yourself suddenly woken up during the night by shooting spasms in your calves. Experts aren't entirely sure what causes them, but you can help fend them off past doing calf stretches before hitting the sack. Some women likewise swear by magnesium supplements or milk of magnesia — which tin also help ease constipation — simply talk to your doctor before taking them. Read More

Bleeding gums

Those pesky pregnancy hormones crusade mucous membranes in your body, including those in your rima oris, to dandy, which tin mean inflamed, irritated and bleeding gums. It's important to go along flossing and brushing regularly to prevent periodontal disease, but try not to be too aggressive in your technique since that can further aggravate sensitive gums. Read More

Edema (swelling in feet and ankles)

Every bit your torso tissues accumulate backlog fluid —your meaning trunk requires actress fluid to support y'all and your baby — yous may discover swelling in your ankles and feet. The reason: Fluid tends to pool there thanks to the constabulary of gravity. Reduce water memory in your anxiety by avoiding standing or sitting for long periods of fourth dimension — and try to keep your legs elevated when y'all tin. Read More

Stretch marks

If the appearance of a new stretch marker has got you feeling down, here'due south an activeness that may cheer you up: Get your partner to rub moisturizing balm over your belly — and maybe even give you a massage! Read More

Tips for You This Week

Don't make any sudden moves

During pregnancy, progesterone increases the flow of blood to your babe, resulting in lower blood pressure and reduced blood flow to your encephalon — giving yous that faint feeling all over.

To help stave off dizziness, ever stand up upwardly from a sitting or lying position slowly.

Interview pediatricians

Now'due south a great time in your pregnancy to interview potential pediatricians. Afterward all, there's a good run a risk that the doctor volition beginning see your baby within 24 hours of your trivial one'due south birth.

So enquire a lot of questions before you make your option and broach topics like engagement availability, hospital affiliations, vaccines and circumcision.

Time for relaxin?

Unfortunately, nosotros don't mean "relaxing." During the second trimester, your body releases relaxin, a hormone that (as the name implies) loosens the ligaments that concur your bones together. The consequence: an achy pelvis and hips — and maybe even bigger anxiety!

You may be cursing this pregnancy hormone now, merely when you're trying to push out your baby's big head, yous'll be thanking relaxin for doing its chore.

Pump iron

Even red-meat eaters can have a hard time getting enough fe from their diets. If you're someone who sticks to plant-based foods, you'll have to double your efforts to pump upward the iron — vegan and vegetarian momshoped-for have a higher risk for iron-deficiency anemia.

Foods similar beans, soy products, oat bran, barley, pumpkin seeds, dried fruits, spinach, seaweed, Jerusalem artichokes and blackstrap molasses all accept some iron in them, but you may also need to take an iron supplement to make sure you're meeting your daily quota. Ask your practitioner whether that'due south the case.

Be wary of supplements

Herbal supplements practice make the most tempting of promises — especially when pregnancy leaves you lot with few self-medicating options. Would information technology really hurt to popular a couple of ginkgo biloba capsules to give your brain cells a fighting adventure of remembering to pay this month's electrical nib? Afterward all, the bottles say "all natural"…and you did buy them at the wellness food shop.

Actually, it could hurt — particularly now that y'all're sharing those pills with a niggling someone else. Herbs and herbal remedies are non tested or approved by the Food and Drug Assistants (FDA) prior to going on the marketplace and are not required to undergo clinical trials, so their safety, or lack thereof, is unknown.

Even supplements that yous've heard could exist helpful could really be 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 bluish cohosh, clove oil, sassafras, wild yam and many others — tin can be downright dangerous if taken someday during pregnancy. Be rubber and check with your practitioner earlier yous pop whatever pill.

Avert some conditioning moves

Sure exercises may piece of work great for the non-pregnant set, just now that you lot're expecting, don't even think near trying them.

Simply say no to upside-down "bicycles," shoulder stands, or flat-on-your-back positions later the fourth month.

Besides off-limits: deep-knee bends, back bends, jumping and bouncing.

Get ready for tiny kicks

You'll probably observe babe's first little kicks someday between weeks xviii and 22 — and sometimes as late every bit weeks 23 or 24 for showtime-time pregnancies.

Those tiny feet tin be felt in many dissimilar ways: every bit the merest palpitate, the most insistent slug or gas bubbling that aren't gas at all.

Every bit for when and how you'll feel your babe move? Several factors come into play: a mom'due south size (the slimmer yous are, the more likely you'll feel movements earlier); your muscle tone (the laxer the uterine muscles, the easier it is to experience those kicks — which is why second-timers by and large experience them sooner); and the baby's position (it's trickier to notice motion when your babe kicks facing in).

An incorrect due date tin also throw off the recognition of those monumental offset kicks. Don't worry: At that place's no mistaking the real matter one time your babe gets the technique downward — and gets large enough to pack a serious punch.

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author ofWhat to Expect When You're Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses merely credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic enquiry institutions and highly respected wellness organizations. Acquire how nosotros continue our content authentic and up-to-engagement by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

  • What to Await When Y'all're Expecting, 5th edition, Heidi Murkoff.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Exercises to Avoid During Pregnancy, December 2019.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Your Guide to Pregnancy Hormones, January 2021.
  • WhatToExpect.com, How to Find the Best Pediatrician for Your Baby, May 2020.
  • WhatToExpect.com, When You'll Feel Your Infant Move and Kick, June 2021.
  • KidsHealth From Nemours, Week 18, 2021.
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, How Your Fetus Grows During Pregnancy, August 2020.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, Myelin, June 2021.
  • Mayo Clinic, What Causes Ankle Swelling During Pregnancy—And What Can I Practise Virtually Information technology?, August 2020.
  • Club for Endocrinology, Relaxin, March 2018.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, The Effect of Relaxin on the Musculoskeletal Organisation, Baronial 2014.
  • American Academy of Pediatricians, How to Choose a Pediatrician, Jan 2020.
  • National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, Iron, March 2021.
  • Food and Drug Administration, FDA 101: Dietary Supplements, July 2015.
  • UT Southwestern Medical Center, The Truth About "Natural" Ways to Induce Labor, April 2017.
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Practice During Pregnancy, July 2019.
  • UT Southwestern Medical Eye, Feeling Your Baby Move During Pregnancy, Apr 2015.
  • National Institutes of Wellness, National Library of Medicine,Neuropsychology Review, The Basics of Encephalon Evolution, November 2010.

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