Your Nutrition Tips of This Week

What you don’t eat or drink is just as important as what you do. Here is a reminder of a few foods you should avoid.

Your Wellness Tips This Week

Around 22 weeks pregnant, you probably are visiting your doctor for another prenatal checkup.

• This month’s appointment will be similar to previous checkups as your doctor checks your health and your baby’s progress.
• Your doctor might tell you about an upcoming glucose screening test — a routine test that checks for gestational diabetes. You might take this test at your next appointment, sometime between the 24th and the 28th week of pregnancy.

Your Baby's Development at Week 22¹

During your 22nd week of pregnancy, your baby is starting to discover the world around him as his senses continue to develop.

• When you are 22 weeks pregnant, your baby is about 19 to 20.5 cm long head to rump, around the length of a head of cabbage, and weighs about 0.5 kg.
• Your baby’s sense of touch and taste progress significantly this week:
  • Taste buds begin forming.
  • Your baby’s brain and nerve endings mature enough to process the sensation of touch.
• Your baby’s reproductive system continues to develop. In a boy, his testes begin to descend. In a girl, her ovaries and uterus are now in place and her vagina develops. She already has all of the eggs she will need for her own reproductive life.
• When you are 22 weeks pregnant, the surface of your baby’s brain, which has previously been smooth, begins to develop folds. This creation of hills and valleys in the brain will continue until the 34th week of pregnancy, when your baby’s brain will have enough surface area for a full complement of brain cells.
• Your baby continues to hear sounds from the outside world. Although these sounds are muffled behind the amniotic fluid and the protective covering of vernix, your baby soon recognises your voice.

Your Changing Body at Week 22^{2, 3}

Around your 22nd week of pregnancy, you might notice your body begins “practicing” for your baby’s upcoming birth.

• You might feel your baby’s first real kicks. If you have not already, you probably will soon. This will be much different from the fluttery quickening you have felt in the past weeks.
• Colostrum, likely your baby’s first meal after birth, continues to develop in your breasts.
• You might breathe faster, but by your 22nd week of pregnancy, your shortness of breath has probably lessened.
• Your uterus expands beyond your navel.
• Many of the typical second-trimester symptoms that you might already have noticed could continue at 22 weeks pregnant, including back pain, increased vaginal discharge, nasal congestion, and sensitive gums.
• By the 22nd week of pregnancy, your uterus might practice for labour and delivery with occasional “warm-up” contractions called Braxton-Hicks contractions.
  • Braxton-Hicks are called false labour. They are very different than the contractions in true labour.
  • These contractions should be painless and irregular and vary in length and intensity. They will not cause you to dilate. See the differences.
  • At first, it might be easy to mistake Braxton-Hicks for real contractions, especially if this is your first pregnancy. If you have more than 6 contractions in an hour, they last at least 30 seconds, and do not go away when you move around, contact your doctor.

References:

¹ Healthline. When Does a Fetus Develop a Brain? Available [Online] at: https://www.healthline.com/health/when-does-a-fetus-develop-a-brain. Accessed on 25 August 2023.
² Verywellfamily. Week 22 of your pregnancy. Available [Online] at: https://www.verywellfamily.com/22-weeks-pregnant-4159032. Accessed on 25 August 2023.
³ Healthline. Pregnancy and Breasts. Available [online] at: https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/pregnant-breast. Accessed on 25 August 2023.
* Comparison among all maternal milk in Singapore as of January 2022, as declared on the label.

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