MONTH 4
Beginning to Look Like a Baby
Weeks 14 Through 17
By most accounts, the second trimester is the best. It’s the golden months when you’re feeling good, looking beautiful, and you might even have some of your energy back. Your appetite increases along with your need for more calories and protein. Your baby can hear noises, so talk and sing to him or her. At Week 14, your baby is the size of a lemon, progressing to a pear by Week 17.
YOUR BABY’S DEVELOPMENT
• In Week 14, your baby is getting longer and straighter. She or he has hair, eyebrows, and lanugo (body hair) to stay warm. Arms have grown to proportion with body. The sweat glands, liver, and pancreas are secreting fluids. If you have a girl, she now has 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby can squint, frown, and grimace. Grasping with hands is possible.
• In Week 15, ears are more positioned. Eyes are shifting from the sides of the head to the front. Hair may be sprouting, and eyebrows show. Your baby can wiggle fingers and toes and suck his or her thumb.
• In Week 16, muscles are getting stronger. Looks more like a baby, but the skin is still translucent. Nose is fully formed. Eyelids remain sealed though they may perceive light. Toenails have started to grow.
• In Week 17, sucking and swallowing skills are evident. Cartilage is hardening to bone. Fat is forming under the skin. Ear nerve endings are developed enough to hear noises and your voice.
CHANGES IN YOUR BODY
All the work you’re doing to create a beautiful baby is making you tired. Rest, mama, rest. You might have tummy issues. In addition to headaches, lightheadedness, or dizziness, some women experience nasal congestion, nosebleeds, and gum bleeding. Your belly is rounding, so you may start to show. Your ankles and feet might be rounding, too.
IDEAL NUTRITION
Your nutrition focus is to optimize your baby’s cell, brain, organ, muscle, nerve, and bone development. The following nutrients will help achieve this.
• B vitamins: cell division, brain formation, nervous system development
• Calcium: bones and teeth
• Magnesium: bones and muscle development
• Manganese: bone development and nerve health
• Omega-3s: brain and eye development
• Phosphorus: bone development
• Potassium: nerve and muscle function
• Vitamin A: cell structure, bones, teeth, nervous system
• Vitamin D: calcium absorption
• Vitamin K: bone mineralization
PROTEIN
Eggs
Meats
Nuts: almonds, cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, walnuts, and nut butters
Pork
Poultry
Seafood (fish and shellfish): salmon (wild and Atlantic), tuna, mackerel, herring, sardines in oil, halibut, cod, and catfish
Seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, chia, hemp seed, and flaxseed
Tahini
Tofu and tempeh
DAIRY
Cheese
Enriched plant-based milks (rice soy, and almond)
Fortified dairy milk
Fortified orange juice and other juices
Yogurt
GRAINS/LEGUMES
All-bran cereal and other fortified breakfast cereals
Beans: soy, black, navy, pinto, kidney, white, great northern, black-eyed, pink, cranberry, and cannellini
Chickpeas
Corn and flour tortillas
Edamame
Folic acid–fortified products
Lentils
Oatmeal
Peanuts
Wheat germ
Whole grains: quinoa, barley, brown rice, bulgur, and whole wheat couscous
VEGETABLES
Artichokes
Asparagus
Avocados
Baked potato with skin on and all other potatoes
Beets
Broccoli and broccoli rabe
Brussels sprouts
Butternut squash
Carrots
Dark, leafy greens: kale, collards, mustard, Swiss chard, bok choy, and turnip greens
Mushrooms
Pumpkin
Red bell peppers
Romaine lettuce
Spinach
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes and tomato juice
FRUITS
Bananas
Cantaloupe
Citrus fruits and juices: oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemonade
Dried apricots
Mangoes
Pineapple
Raspberries
FATS/OTHER
Brewer’s or nutritional yeast
Olive oil
Omega-3s
Molasses
Seaweed and kelp