Noticing a rumbling in your tum?

It could be pregnancy hunger pangs — or it could be the very first signs of fetal movement, which can happen at around calendar week xviii of pregnancy.

Your Babe at Week 18

At a Glance

Tiny fingerprints

Tiny fingerprints

Your ane-of-a-kind baby is truly one of a kind now, with unique fingerprints on those trivial fingertips and toes.

Nerve protection

Nervus protection

Myelin, a protective insulation, is starting to form around infant-to-be'due south nerves. This covering continues to abound until your babe's beginning altogether.

Girl and boy parts defined

Girl and boy parts defined

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

18 weeks pregnant is how many months?

If you're 18 weeks pregnant, you're in month 5 of your pregnancy. Only four months left to go! All the same take questions? Here'south some more information on how weeks, months and trimesters are cleaved downward in pregnancy.

How big is my baby at 18 weeks?

At 5½ inches long from crown to rump and 5 to half dozen½ ounces in weight — nearly the size of that boneless craven breast you're making for dinner — your baby may be large enough at present or anytime in the next few weeks for you to feel twisting, rolling, boot and punching in the womb.

Infant is yawning

At present for the skill of the week: The art of the yawn has been mastered by your baby, forth with hiccupping, which you lot may feel shortly, also!

In fact, you might catch a glimpse of that adorable yawn and all those other fetal movements at your ultrasound this month.

Babe's nervous organization is maturing quickly

Something you won't see on the ultrasound — only you'll learn is in working society — is your baby's nervous organization, which is maturing rapidly when you're xviii weeks pregnant.

A network of fretfulness, at present covered with a substance called myelin that helps speed messages from nerve jail cell to nerve cell, are forming more than complex connections.

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

Speaking of hearing, your babe'due south is growing more astute and baby can finally fully hear you this week, making your little i more witting of sounds that come up from inside your body. Meaning you lot could both exist listening to each other hiccup!

Your Trunk at Week 18

18 weeks pregnant woman

Quick growth

Is it a daughter? A boy? How about a sizeable fruit or vegetable? At eighteen weeks, your baby is about the length of a cucumber and your uterus is around the size of a sugariness irish potato — run across how you're working your way through the produce department? It can be felt well-nigh 1½ inches below your omphalus — so have a feel.

Your xviii weeks pregnant abdomen

When you're 18 weeks pregnant, you lot'll likely look noticeably meaning, since your baby and uterus are growing rapidly. But recollect that every adult female is different equally is each pregnancy, then even this far along, some still have pocket-sized bumps while others accept popped a lot.

All baby bumps at 18 weeks significant are fine and normal and may vary based on how much weight yous and babe are gaining, your superlative and build, and whether this is your first pregnancy or not.

Only don't size upwards your xviii weeks pregnant belly side by side to those of pregnant friends at the same phase, or worry that y'all're measuring too big or as well small. If you're actually concerned, you tin can always talk to your practitioner, but rest assured that if you and your baby are tracking normally at your prenatal appointments, everything is likely just fine.

Your back aches

Something else you may be feeling right now: back pain. Your growing uterus shifts your center of gravity — which ways your lower dorsum is pulled forward while your abdomen is thrust out — good for tipping off the person who got the last seat on the double-decker 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, not to mention a shifting posture.

Reduce pain by using a foot residual to drag your feet slightly when sitting. When standing, place 1 pes on a low stool when possible to take some force per unit area off your lower back. A long, warm bath can also do wonders. And if your back pain merely won't quit, exist sure to talk to your practitioner.

Reducing heartburn

Forget the burrito with extra jalapeños — sometimes even a bite of toast will prepare your gut on fire these days. That's the trouble with heartburn— an all-also-common symptom that tin persist throughout your pregnancy. An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of Tums — although you lot might desire to keep those handy, too, since they'll blackball the burn while boosting your calcium intake.

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

Later on you finish eating, sit upright for a few hours, or as long as yous can last without collapsing into bed, and sleep with your head elevated, which also helps with the snoring. And do skip annihilation on the menu with a moving-picture show of a flame next to it!

Pregnancy Symptoms Week 18

Fetal movement

Fetal motility

If y'all've noticed an unusual rumbling in your stomach these days, you may be starting to experience your babe's movements in the womb! But don't worry if yous haven't felt anything out of the ordinary — it may have a few more weeks for you to pinpoint those commencement kicks. Read More

Bloating and gas

Bloating and gas

Finding it hard to incorporate the gas bubbles? Try to relax — tension can crusade you to eat air, which just adds to the problem. Read More

Leg cramps

Leg cramps

As if it weren't plenty that your precious sleep is interrupted by trips to the bathroom to pee, now you may detect yourself suddenly woken upwardly during the night by shooting spasms in your calves. Experts aren't entirely sure what causes them, just y'all tin help fend them off by doing calf stretches earlier hitting the sack. Some women also swear by magnesium supplements or milk of magnesia — which can besides help ease constipation — merely talk to your doctor before taking them. Read More

Bleeding gums

Bleeding gums

Those pesky pregnancy hormones cause mucous membranes in your body, including those in your mouth, to swell, which tin mean inflamed, irritated and bleeding gums. It's of import to go on flossing and brushing regularly to forestall periodontal affliction, but try not to exist too aggressive in your technique since that can further aggravate sensitive gums. Read More

Edema (swelling in feet and ankles)

Edema (swelling in feet and ankles)

Every bit your body tissues accumulate backlog fluid —your pregnant body requires extra fluid to support yous and your baby — you may find swelling in your ankles and feet. The reason: Fluid tends to pool in that location thanks to the law of gravity. Reduce water retention in your anxiety by avoiding standing or sitting for long periods of time — and try to go on your legs elevated when you can. Read More

Stretch marks

Stretch marks

If the advent of a new stretch mark has got y'all feeling downwardly, here'south an activity that may cheer you up: Become your partner to rub moisturizing balm over your abdomen — and peradventure even give you a massage! Read More

Tips for You This Week

Don't make whatsoever sudden moves

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

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

Interview pediatricians

Now's a great fourth dimension in your pregnancy to interview potential pediatricians. Later on all, there'due south a good gamble that the doctor will first come across your infant within 24 hours of your piddling one'south nascency.

And then ask a lot of questions earlier yous brand your selection and broach topics like engagement availability, hospital affiliations, vaccines and circumcision.

Fourth dimension for relaxin?

Unfortunately, we don't mean "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 effect: an achy pelvis and hips — and peradventure fifty-fifty bigger feet!

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

Pump iron

Even red-meat eaters tin can have a difficult time getting enough iron from their diets. If you lot're someone who sticks to plant-based foods, you'll have to double your efforts to pump up the iron — vegan and vegetarian moms-to-be have a higher take chances 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 as well need to take an fe supplement to make sure you're meeting your daily quota. Ask your practitioner whether that'south the case.

Be wary of supplements

Herbal supplements do brand the virtually tempting of promises — especially when pregnancy leaves you with few self-medicating options. Would it really injure to pop a couple of ginkgo biloba capsules to give your encephalon cells a fighting risk of remembering to pay this calendar month's electric bill? Later on all, the bottles say "all natural"…and you did buy them at the health food store.

Actually, it could hurt — particularly now that you're sharing those pills with a little someone else. Herbs and herbal remedies are not 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, so their prophylactic, or lack thereof, is unknown.

Fifty-fifty supplements that y'all've heard could be helpful could really be harmful at different points during your pregnancy — by causing premature labor if taken besides early, for example.

And a number of herbs — such as basil oil, black or blue cohosh, clove oil, sassafras, wild yam and many others — tin be downright dangerous if taken anytime during pregnancy. Be rubber and cheque with your practitioner before you popular any pill.

Avoid some conditioning moves

Certain exercises may work great for the non-significant set, but now that you're expecting, don't fifty-fifty retrieve well-nigh trying them.

Just say no to upside-down "bicycles," shoulder stands, or flat-on-your-back positions after the 4th calendar month.

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

Become ready for tiny kicks

You'll probably notice baby's first little kicks anytime between weeks 18 and 22 — and sometimes as belatedly every bit weeks 23 or 24 for first-time pregnancies.

Those tiny feet can exist felt in many unlike ways: equally the merest palpitate, the most insistent slug or gas bubbling that aren't gas at all.

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

An wrong due date tin also throw off the recognition of those monumental showtime kicks. Don't worry: There's no mistaking the real thing one time your baby gets the technique downwards — and gets big enough to pack a serious punch.

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author ofWhat to Expect When Y'all're Expecting. What to Await follows strict reporting guidelines and uses but apparent sources, such every bit peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Acquire how we go on our content accurate and upward-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

  • What to Wait When Yous're Expecting, 5th edition, Heidi Murkoff.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Exercises to Avoid During Pregnancy, December 2019.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Your Guide to Pregnancy Hormones, Jan 2021.
  • WhatToExpect.com, How to Find the All-time Pediatrician for Your Infant, May 2020.
  • WhatToExpect.com, When You'll Feel Your Baby Move and Kick, June 2021.
  • KidsHealth From Nemours, Week xviii, 2021.
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, How Your Fetus Grows During Pregnancy, Baronial 2020.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, Myelin, June 2021.
  • Mayo Clinic, What Causes Ankle Swelling During Pregnancy—And What Tin can I Do Nigh It?, Baronial 2020.
  • Society for Endocrinology, Relaxin, March 2018.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, The Outcome of Relaxin on the Musculoskeletal Arrangement, Baronial 2014.
  • American Academy of Pediatricians, How to Choose a Pediatrician, January 2020.
  • National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, Iron, March 2021.
  • Food and Drug Assistants, FDA 101: Dietary Supplements, July 2015.
  • UT Southwestern Medical Center, The Truth Virtually "Natural" Means to Induce Labor, April 2017.
  • American Higher of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Exercise During Pregnancy, July 2019.
  • UT Southwestern Medical Centre, Feeling Your Baby Move During Pregnancy, April 2015.
  • National Institutes of Wellness, National Library of Medicine,Neuropsychology Review, The Basics of Brain Development, November 2010.

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