Baby Development in the Womb

Video Transcript

"Hi. I'm Dr. David Hill and today we're going to talk about your infant's development in the womb. That, of course, starts at the moment of conception, usually around two weeks after your last menstrual period. At that point, the fetus begins to form, but it's not implanted yet. However, by the end of the very first month of life, your fetus has a circulation, it's called an embryo at this point, the beginnings of a placenta, a front, a back, and a distinct head. The big action occurs between the third and the eighth week. This is when all of the body's organs are forming and at the end of this period of time, your baby is going to have a beating heart, eyes, ears, fingers, toes. It's very exciting, but it's also a vulnerable period because this is the time when infections, medications, and drugs may profoundly affect the development of the fetus, leading to severe birth defects, because the spinal cord is forming at this time and we know you need folate to make a solid spinal cord. It's important that women who are even thinking about having a baby, take their folate supplementation before they become pregnant. By the time they know they're pregnant, it may be too late. On the other hand, alcohol can damage your fetus at any point during fetal development, so it's important not to drink at all during your pregnancy. The second trimester is when the baby is getting longer. They're not putting on a whole lot of weight; they're still less than a pound. At the fifth month of life, very exciting, you'll begin to be able to feel your baby move. A baby born before six months of life still probably is not well developed enough to survive outside of the womb and it's very rare for premature infants born in that period to do very well. In the third trimester, the baby really packs on weight, doubling their size easily and putting on half of the weight that they're going to have at the time that they're born. For this reason, conditions of the mother that affect the baby's weight, such as hypertension, smoking, or diabetes can have a profound impact and you need to make sure you have those things under good control with the help of your doctor. Babies who are born after twenty-eight weeks of gestation are very likely to do well, even as premature infants because they have the heart, the lungs and the brain to survive outside the womb, with the help of a neonatal intensive care unit. So, your baby's development in the womb starts before you know that they have started. It's already going strong at one month and all the organs are forming at three to eight weeks and are susceptible to damage from a variety of sources. You never want to drink or smoke during your pregnancy, and you want to work closely with your doctor to maintain your health. That is fetal development, and I'm Dr. David Hill."