pregnancy | week by week

A bunch of celery

Your Baby's Size =

Week 30: Gaining Weight and Brainpower

Baby’s brain continues to expand, plus other exciting developments.

During this 30th week of your pregnancy, your baby continues to steadily add weight and essential insulating layers of fat to his body.

• At week 30, your baby weighs about 3 pounds and is about 10 1/2 inches long from crown to rump, or about the length of a bunch of celery. (His legs and feet increase this measurement by many more inches.)
• From this week until week 37 of your pregnancy, your baby gains an impressive 1/2 pound a week.
  
• When you’re 30 weeks pregnant, your baby might be practicing breathing movements as he rhythmically moves his diaphragm. You might even notice a slight twitching in your abdomen when this happens.
• Although your baby is getting all of the oxygen he needs from your placenta, this practice is important for developing your baby’s diaphragm muscles.
• Your baby’s brain continues to expand and develop, creating additional grooves and folds in the brain’s surface. These wrinkles give your baby’s brain tissue the needed room to expand as the baby develops and learns throughout his lifetime.
• By the 30th week of your pregnancy, your baby’s brain can now regulate the baby’s temperature, so the baby begins to lose the lanugo, which is the fine hair that has been covering his body for warmth.

Avoiding Unhealthy Foods

Simple substitutions for common convenience foods.

By the time you’re 30 weeks pregnant, your days are filling up with preparations for your baby’s arrival, and you might find yourself with less and less time for menu planning. If you’ve found yourself reaching for convenience foods, work in these healthy substitutions during pregnancy:

• Instead of ice cream, try frozen low-fat yogurt topped with granola, sliced berries, and a few dark chocolate shreds.
• Instead of potato chips, try baked potato chips, low-fat soy crisps or veggie chips.
• Instead of chocolate, try trail mix with equal portions of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and chocolate-covered raisins.
• Instead of a cheeseburger, try a low-fat turkey burger or veggie burger, topped with avocado, tomato and lettuce on a thin whole-wheat bun.