Week 20

We know that while your baby is growing in your belly, you are curious about their developmental process. Here are the details about 20 weeks of baby development…

At twenty weeks of pregnancy, your baby continues to mature. The baby’s nails and eyebrows began to grow. Their hair, which started to grow earlier, continues to grow.

At 20 weeks, the baby continues to swallow and breathe.

At 20 weeks, the baby in the womb can open and close its mouth regularly. They e can make a tongue sticking out movement.

Black poop called meconium continues to accumulate in their intestines.

In the 20th week of pregnancy, the uterus of female babies begins to develop, and the testicles of male babies begin to descend from the abdomen. It will take several months for the testicles to fully descend into their bags.

Your baby spends some of his time sleeping. Sleep can last from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Although they can move their eyes left and right, their eyelids are still closed.

At the 20th week of pregnancy, the baby’s skin thickens as thin layers of fat begin to form on the skin. Therefore, they continue to gain weight.

In the 20th week of pregnancy, the baby’s skin surface is covered with a thin layer of hair called lanugo. This layer of hair begins to disappear after 36 weeks. Very little remains after birth. These remaining hairs fall out in a few months.

The layer of vernix caseosa, which will decrease over time on the skin surface, started to form last week and continues to increase during the 20th gestational week. There are 40-50 kinds of proteins in this fatty structure. The varnish layer protects the baby against various infections while in the womb and in the days after birth. It also has the task of protecting the baby’s skin from the acidic effect of amniotic fluid. This dark viscous oily structure, which looks as if it is plastered on the skin, also facilitates the passage of the baby through the birth canal during birth.

As nerve cells develop in the 20th week of pregnancy, nerve connections between the brain and the senses also develop. The structure that provides this connection is myelin, a fatty substance that covers and isolates nerves throughout the body. In this week, the baby has as many nerve cells as an adult. As nerve cells develop, the baby becomes able to control his body.

At 20 weeks of pregnancy, the baby’s sense of taste has developed enough to feel bitter and sweet. Of course, he only tastes the amniotic fluid for now.

Your baby can hear sounds for a few weeks. They can hear your heartbeat, the sounds coming from your intestines and stomach. Since he/she also hears sounds coming from outside, you can make him/her listen to soft music in the classical music style. The heart rhythm may react differently to sounds coming from outside.

The amniotic fluid in which the baby grows increases 10-fold in the last 8 weeks, reaching 320 ml at the end of the 20th week.

In 20-week gestational ultrasound images; It can be seen that the baby’s head constitutes less than a third of the whole body length.

Heartbeat sounds are heard stronger on ultrasound this week.

The 20-week-old baby is still scrawny in ultrasound images. And considering that baby will get fatter and fatter, it will be weeks before he becomes a cute chubby baby.
Bones that continue to harden and develop now appear brighter on 20-week-old baby ultrasound images.

In the 20-week ultrasound images, you can see that your baby makes a tongue extraction, sucks his finger, and moves his arms and legs. Or maybe see them sleeping…

In the 20-week color ultrasound images, you can see your baby’s face clearly enough to comment on who they look like.At the 20th week of pregnancy, your uterus can be seen a little below on ultrasound. Don’t worry about it, the uterus grows both up and down throughout pregnancy. The placenta is not expected to be near the bottom this week. If it is close to the bottom at the 20th week, the doctor will check the placenta again at the 32nd week.