Week 17 of Your Pregnancy

Everywhere you go, your family and friends are guessing whether it’s a boy or girl. Hold your breath this week, because you may finally discover the gender of your future child! At 17 weeks, your baby is plenty active as major internal systems are becoming more established. Here’s more. 

Your baby’s hair, eyebrows and eyelashes are growing longer³ – yay to long eyelashes! They can also open and close their mouth and move their eyes, though they are still shut¹.

Internally, your baby’s heart is likely to be beating at around 140 beats per minute (bpm) to 150 bpm². This is much faster than the average resting adult, whose heart rate ranges from 60bpm to 100bpm⁵. Your baby’s respiratory system is developing too, as it starts learning how to breathe³.

Your Baby

Enjoy those first little kicks! Though it’s about the size of a sweet potato at 13cm, your little passenger weighs around 150g. This week, your baby's growing body is becoming more proportionate with its head. It may not have much fat, but special fat-storing “adipose tissues” are beginning to form.

Your body

Your baby belly is more visible as your uterus is extended now. Darker areolas and moles may occur by some women as a result of increased pigmentation at this stage.

Cruising through pregnancy

This is the time to have a holiday and relax. The little hiccups from the first weeks of pregnancy are over. You feel fit now and the belly is not interfering. Take advantage of this opportunity to relax and conserve energy for the birth while enjoying quality time with your partner. 

The Future Benefits of Vitamin D for Baby

Before you get too carried away with organising a gender reveal party, don’t forget to keep yourself and your baby healthy with proper nutrition!

Vitamin D forms an important part of a healthy pregnancy diet. It regulates the levels of calcium and phosphate in your body and supports the growth and development of your baby’s bones⁶. If you don’t take enough Vitamin D, your baby’s bones will soften, which may lead to rickets in extreme cases⁷. Furthermore, the Vitamin D you consume during your pregnancy also builds up your baby’s personal stores⁷. Your little sweetheart will need this after it’s born.

The most efficient way to get Vitamin D is through exposure to the ultraviolet-B rays in sunlight. But this may not be adequate. While you can increase your Vitamin D intake by eating certain foods, the best way is to take a supplement! It’s recommended that you get 10mcg of vitamin D each day during pregnancy⁸.

What’s Next?

Check that your current pregnancy supplement includes Vitamin D. If it doesn’t, consider taking a separate one. For a bigger boost, consider adding these vitamin D-rich foods to your shopping list⁹!

• Oily fish — limit your intake to 2 portions per week due to the toxins they may contain
• Eggs — the yolk contains the vitamin D
• Fortified foods — some brands of milk, margarines and some breakfast cereals have added vitamin D