Week 22

Week 22

Your baby’s senses are developing more and more every day. It’s important that you remember to move around and exercise every day – you don’t need to run or use weights, but a nice walk is good for your body.

Long hair, don’t care

All your baby’s senses are developing more and more each day. Their hearing is improving, and tastebuds are developing on their tongue. The hair on your baby’s head is also growing now; you can never really predict how much hair a baby will be born with; some will have almost none while others will have an entire mane. You just won’t know for sure until you get to meet them.

By the end of week 22 of your pregnancy, your baby measures 28-29 centimeters from head to toe.

Leaking breastmilk

By now, you may have noticed some changes in your breasts, like your veins darkening. This is because the milk glands are getting ready to produce breast milk for your baby. It’s completely normal to experience leaking from your breasts during pregnancy, and it can start as early as now. You can buy nursing pads to put inside your bra to stay clean and dry; this is especially great for when you’re out and about or at work.

The leaking can increase during the night, as your breasts might get squeezed during your sleep. Try sleeping on top of a towel, that way it shouldn’t be too uncomfortable. But whatever you do, don’t try to squeeze the breastmilk out of your breasts; this will only stimulate your milk glands and lead to your body making even more breastmilk.

Remember to move during the day

We’ve mentioned it before, and we’ll say it again: It’s important to exercise during your pregnancy, especially now as you’re well into the 2nd trimester here in week 22. We’re not saying that you have to run or use weights every day but take a nice walk and get your joints moving and your blood pumping.

This is especially important if your job requires you to exclusively either sit or stand all day; already, you can start to notice swelling in your ankles and lower legs, and exercise and variety in your movements is the best way to reduce swelling. You can do foot exercises both standing and sitting by bending, stretching and rotating your feet, to get some blood flow to your calves.

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