Between 9 and 10 weeks, your little developing baby will experience an amazing growth spurt! During this time, his or her weight will increase by as much as 77%!

Growth and Support

During this time, your baby is developing in miraculous ways! Even though you are not even showing yet, believe me, your baby is growing. It is between the ninth and the tenth week that something happens that is pretty unbelievable; your baby puts on some serious weight. We are talking approximately 77% more! That is why it is so very important for you to ensure your baby’s continued growth by making sure you stay well-fed. You should be eating more than usual to accommodate baby’s new found sense of purpose.

Now, you may not be eating for two in a true sense. Some would have you believe that you are eating for two grown adults, but this is absolutely not the case. You are not eating for another grown up, but you should be eating more nonetheless. This doesn’t mean raiding the goodie cabinets or pillaging the cookie jar. It means to start adjusting your diet to accommodate the health and nutritional needs of your little visitor. He or she is going to need an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to develop properly and on schedule.

What is on Baby’s Mind?

Baby’s brain is also developing quickly and dramatically during this time. Specifically, the part of the brain which develops the most during the 9^th week, is the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is the material that connects the left and the right sides of baby’s brain. I bet you can guess how important this is! With the brain making such major connections, baby is going to need a continuous influx of vitamins and nutrients to aid in this very important development.

Other areas of Development

This week, baby is undergoing some additional developmental changes. Rather astonishingly, baby will experience eye movement during the 9^th week of your pregnancy. When the upper eyelid experiences stimulation of any kind, the eye will begin to roll in a downward motion.

Baby will also begin to yawn this week, as well. He or she will open and close their mouth at random, in preparation for eating and breathing in the future. In addition to this jaw flexing, baby will also suck their thumb! For some reason, most experts say that baby’s will prefer sucking their right thumb over their left. While no one knows for sure why that is, it may have to do with the development of the connection between the left and the right sides of the brain.

Abdomen

At this point of development, the regions of the intestine that were temporarily pushed into the umbilical cord because of the size of the liver are now placed back in the abdomen, where they will stay. In fact, during the 9^th week, baby’s abdomen has finally grown big enough to hold everything that it needs to. Capillaries also begin to form in the kidneys called glomeruli. These blood filtering bodies are just beginning, but will be fully functional before long.

Baby is also developing fingernails and toenails, and fingerprints, too. These processes still have a long way to go before baby is ready to meet the world, but for now, they are all baby needs.