pregnancy | week by week

A pear

Your Baby's Size =

Week 16: Your Baby Can Make Faces

Your baby’s muscles are starting to work!

During your 16th week of pregnancy, the muscles throughout your baby’s body begin to work.

• Your baby is probably 4-5 inches long, which is about the length of a large pear.
• Your baby’s skeletal and nervous systems connect enough to allow him to coordinate movement.
• When you’re 16 weeks pregnant, developed facial muscles make it possible for your baby to squint, frown or make other facial expressions.
  
• As back muscles strengthen, your baby is able to straighten his posture a little.
• Your baby now has eyelashes.
  
• By your 16th week of pregnancy, your baby’s eyes move from side to side and even perceive some light, though his eyelids are still sealed.
• Your baby’s bones build and strengthen with the help of your body’s supply of calcium.
• Your baby already might be having tiny hiccups, though at this stage, your baby is not large enough for you to feel them.
• Having a girl? Within your baby’s tiny ovaries, millions of eggs are already forming, giving her the chance one day to have babies of her own.

Eat More of This, Less of That

The foods you should focus on during pregnancy.

As you continue on the path of your pregnancy, try to monitor your intake of these types of foods:

INCREASE

• Whole grains, such as whole-wheat or multigrain breads.
  
• Fruits and vegetables, such as apples, pears, carrots and spinach.
  
• Low-fat, nutrient-rich proteins, such as lean beef (round, chuck, sirloin, and tenderloin), low-fat yogurt or water-packed tuna fish.
• Be selective about meat and poultry. Other options include ground low-fat chicken, turkey or beef; and lean pork or lamb (tenderloin, loin chop, leg).
• Unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, canola oil or safflower oil.

DECREASE

• Saturated and trans fats found in fats that are solid at room temperature (such as butter, beef fat, and shortening).
• Empty calories, such as those in sweetened beverages with added sugars, including soft drinks and presweetened teas.