Week by week pregnancy guide: You and your baby at Week 16

How Big is Your Baby?

Your Baby’s Development

In this week by week pregnancy guide, you'll learn that:

• Your baby is busy strengthening his muscles, especially the ones in his back and face.
• Your baby is able to frown or squint.
• His eyelids are able to detect light now.
• His eyebrows and eyelashes are fully developed at this stage.
• With tiny bones growing in your baby’s ears, his hearing is beginning to develop.

Pregnancy Symptoms

• You might begin to feel your baby move–but just barely, as these movements will still be very gentle.
• Your lungs are beginning to get crowded leaving you breathless at times.
• With your uterus pressing on your intestines you may feel constipated.
• The good news in this week by week pregnancy guide is: your hair and nails will start to grow faster. Your hair will probably look and feel more lustrous than before, and you may exhibit that “pregnancy glow” everyone talks about.

Pregnancy Care

• With extra stress on your back and pelvic muscles, you may want to perform exercises to strengthen them.
• You should continue to eat well and not give in to all the unhealthy pregnancy cravings.
• You may experience dry and itchy skin, so use a good moisturizer to keep the scratching at bay.

Your Checklist

• With the baby’s hearing in place, it is time to get your husband to start talking so the baby begins to recognize his father’s voice.
• Time to sign up for prenatal classes if you haven’t already. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital runs an ongoing programme for mums-to-be.
• This is also the time “pregnancy brain” sets in, making you more forgetful. To combat this, create lists of what needs to be done!

Your next week: 17 weeks pregnant

Your previous week: 15 weeks pregnant

Do you have questions on this week by week pregnancy guide? What are your current concerns, mums? Leave us a comment below!