Help your baby develop in the thirty-fifth week of your pregnancy
Your baby is busy getting ready for birth and life outside the womb. Continue giving proper nutrition to keep your little one healthy for the big day.
What’s happening this week?
With his or her heart, blood vessels, muscles, and bones fully developedi, your little one’s body is beautifully taking shape for birth. His or her skin is even becoming less wrinkled as fat beneath it increasesi.
His or her breathing and digestive systems are fully formed and ready for the big dayii, and his or her immune system is growing stronger with your help. Your baby now even has sleeping patterns.
Around the size of pineapple now, your baby weighs about 5.25 pounds (2.4 kilograms) and is about 18.25 inches from head to toe (46 centimeters)iii.
What can you expect?
With your delivery date just a few weeks away, it’s normal to feel worried about motherhood. These tips may help you recognize if you’re experiencing something more serious, like prenatal depression, or just enjoy your pregnancy more in general:
- Know the signs. They vary from person to person, but signs of prenatal depression include experiencing severe mood swings, overwhelming sadness, insomnia, fatigue, and feelings of hopelessnessiv.
- Get help from friends and family for chores and caring for your newborn. It’s also important to talk things over with your doctor or a therapist if you feel overwhelmed by your feelings.
- Get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation may be a contributing factor to depressionv.
What can you do to support your pregnancy?
Mom-to-be, do make sure you are getting enough rest. A lack of sleep may trigger less severe though still troubling symptoms such as pregnancy headachesvi. If you can’t get adequate sleep at night, catch up on this lost sleep with a daytime nap.
To support your baby’s brain development, continue to eat food rich in DHA, and other essential nutrients like iron, zinc, choline and folatevii. These nutrients are important to support your baby brain’s rapid and complex growth, which is central to his or her IQ and EQ development.
Did you know that your little one is already learning even before he or she is bornviii? Support this by continuing to stimulate the senses through speech, music, and touch. Bonding with your baby is how he or she gets to know the world.
