Pregnancy calendar - Week 19

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week 4
week 5
week 6
week 7
week 8
week 9
week 10
week 11
week 12
week 13
week 14
week 15
week 16
week 17
week 18
week 19
week 20
week 21
week 22
week 23
week 24
week 25
week 26
week 27
week 28
week 29
week 30
week 31
week 32
week 33
week 34
week 35
week 36
week 37
week 38
week 39
week 40

Your baby’s development

At 19 weeks pregnant your baby’s tastebuds are now well developed and they can taste the sweetness of the amniotic fluid in your womb. Well before they’re born, your baby will like sweet tastes, which give a calm, comforting feeling. Developing fast, their hearing is now sensitive enough to pick up sounds that are too high or too low for adults to hear. They’ve also added about another centimetre of growth in the last week – so your baby now measures around 19cm. Very soon you’ll be having your 20 week scan, an ultrasound offered to every pregnant woman on the NHS. This scan is usually offered anytime around now until your 21 week and allows the specialist to check your baby from head to toe. It’s also the first chance many mums-to-be get to see their baby, and many hospitals offer the chance for you to buy a photo to take home with you.

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You & your body

It would be all too easy to use pregnancy as an excuse to snack on an extra packet of crisps (or three!), but this won’t give your baby the essential nutrients that will keep them growing.

Instead, focus on a healthy eating during pregnancy by adding extra fruit and vegetables, choose wholegrain cereals and breads and meet your daily need for calcium by including low-fat dairy foods like yogurt and cheese in your daily diet.

Did you know?

Now that you’re in your second trimester, you might find that you experience a bit of heartburn or indigestion. It’s all down to those pregnancy hormones again, and pressure from your growing baby. You can reduce it by avoiding spicy foods, citrus juices, coffee and chocolate. Chew your food well, eat little and often but try not to eat too close to bedtime – give yourself time to digest. Drinking water before eating also helps with digestion. A dash of milk can help soothe your windpipe if you have a touch of heartburn.