Every day of the baby's intrauterine life is unique. This article will tell you about the developmental characteristics of a child at 26 weeks.
Anatomical features of the fetus
To determine how well the baby is growing, doctors use a special ultrasound examination method. In the course of such a study, a specialist can obtain the basic dimensions of a little man.
The intensive development of the child contributes to the fact that the normal values of the determined indicators differ at each week of pregnancy.
The table below shows the norms of the main clinical criteria for the parameters of the fetal body, which are determined by ultrasound.
In addition to determining the basic parameters of the body, through an ultrasound examination, you can also see how the baby looks. High-precision devices used by specialists at the present time allow obtaining an image of the fetus of a fairly high resolution.
The baby's face is already quite formed by 26 weeks. The auricles are small and more convex. The eyes cover the eyelids outside. Above the child's eye sockets, vellus hairs grow, which will later become eyebrows. The baby even has small eyelashes.
With each subsequent day of pregnancy, the baby becomes more and more cute. His skin becomes smoother and smoother, and the number of previously covering wrinkles is reduced. This is largely due to the fact that under the baby's skin, the amount of brown adipose tissue begins to actively increase.
The increase in subcutaneous fat contributes to the fact that the baby no longer looks so small and emaciated. Dimples and the first folds begin to appear on the child's body. The cheeks gradually become chubby.
What does the baby feel?
The intrauterine development of the fetus at this stage of pregnancy is still continuing, however, the basic internal organs and systems have already been formed, and some of them are even beginning to function. However, the internal organs will be able to work in full force only after the birth of the baby, while their work can be called "training".
By 25-26 weeks of pregnancy, the child's nervous system is already functioning quite well. The baby's brain already weighs about 110-115 grams.
The number of grooves and convolutions that give the bark a specific striation continues to increase every day. Such a special structure of the cerebral cortex significantly complicates the behavior of the baby. Every day the child has an increase in the number of reflexes that he needs for later life.
Without the normal development of the nervous system, the functioning of the sense organs is also impossible. By this period, the baby can already feel quite a lot - light, sound, taste and much more. Such a response to environmental influences is largely facilitated by the intensive development of the peripheral nervous system.
The ability to hear
The most vivid sensation that the baby experiences during this period is the ability to distinguish sounds. The kid quite easily distinguishes between parental voices. It has been scientifically proven that the mother's voice has a relaxing effect on the fetus.
It is interesting that the number of sounds perceived by the child increases every day. So, he can already perceive the sounds of the environment, making their way through the walls of the abdomen. For example, a toddler hears the noise of a vacuum cleaner or water flowing from the tap.
Sounds that are too intense can scare your baby. The fetus will show its dissatisfaction with increased motor activity. Sounds that are too loud can also encourage the child to actively kick.
The best sounds for the development of the nervous system - musical pieces... Experts have established that at this period of intrauterine development, the formation of the first musical preferences is already possible. Listening to classical music can be a great pastime for an expectant mother and her baby.
Natural sounds of nature are no less useful for the development of the child. So, the murmur of a stream or the sound of the surf has a calming effect on the fruit. Regular walks in the fresh air can make your child feel positive.
Ability to see
Note that a truly visual analyzer in a baby will start working only after his birth. At 26 weeks, the fetus can already close or open its eyes. The structure of the eyeball determines the ability to distinguish between light.
Scientists have conducted a number of interesting experiments, during which it was proved that when exposed to a stream of bright light on the face of the fetus in the mother's womb, he tries to turn away from him or even change his position.
With excessive insolation, the motor activity of the fetus can increase significantly. The kid, as a rule, reacts to too bright light by changing his position or simply by increasing motor activity.
The ability to taste
Despite the fact that it is still far from birth, the fetus is already able to distinguish the taste. Perhaps this is when it swallows amniotic fluid.
During the day, the baby can swallow about 450-600 ml of amniotic fluid. It enters the internal environment of the child's body, where some of the nutrients dissolved in it are absorbed into the bloodstream, and other substances are simply removed through the kidneys. The main substance that is actively absorbed into the blood is glucose. It is necessary for the child's body for the full development of the brain and nervous system. Some vitamins can also be absorbed.
When the amniotic fluid is swallowed, the fetus tastes it. The child's tongue already has microscopic outgrowths - papillae. They are a kind of receptors that help a person to experience various taste options. So, the fruit can quite easily distinguish between bitter, salty and sweet tastes.
Swallowing amniotic fluid can cause your baby to hiccup. This reaction is quite normal and serves as a kind of stage in the development of digestion in the baby.
Ability to move
The motor activity of the fetus at this stage, perhaps, is a fairly characteristic feature of the 26th week. The child is already rather big, his weight has exceeded half a kilogram. This leads to the fact that the active movements of her child begin to be strongly felt by his mother.
Every day the number of fetal movements is increasing. This is due to the good development of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. The bones of the fetus are already quite dense, the muscles are mobile and elastic. All these anatomical features significantly affect the range of possible active movements.
Until that time, the kid was very interested in studying his own body. He played with his umbilical cord, touched his face, bent and unbent the fingers on the arms and legs. By the 26th week, due to the good development of the brain, the fetus has an interest in studying the "water world" in which it is located.
So, with his legs, he begins to push off from the walls of the uterus. It also often happens that the baby begins to "bang" his hands on the internal organs of his mother, which are quite close to the uterus in which he is located.
It is important to note that by the 26th week, the intensity of motor activity in the fetus, as a rule, increases. A woman feels her baby in her womb much stronger than before.
Some experts note that during the day, the baby can be active every 10 minutes. To assess the intrauterine state of the fetus, obstetricians-gynecologists advise expectant mothers to count the number of movements that they feel.
It is important to note that the child is not active all the time. The baby at this time of his intrauterine life is already able to sleep. Sleep in the fetus is usually from 17 to 20 hours during the day. At this time, the baby is sleeping and does not make active movements.
Fetal motor activity is an important clinical criterion for assessing its condition. So, if the baby kicks very often, then this may be a manifestation of the fact that he is experiencing some discomfort.
Doctors note that the following common reasons can lead to increased motor activity in the fetus.
- Psychoemotional influences. The stress suffered by the mother has a very adverse effect on the state of the child's body. Under the influence of stress, a number of hormones are formed in the female body, which cause a spasm of blood vessels. The lack of nutrients and oxygen contributes to the appearance of a response from the fetus.
- Hypoxia - tissue starvation of internal organs... This condition occurs when the supply of oxygen to the body decreases. Hypoxia can develop for a variety of reasons. According to statistics, women living in large metropolitan areas suffer from hypoxia much more often.
- Diseases of the mother. Some pathologies of the heart and blood vessels that occur with the development of heart failure can lead to an insufficient supply of nutrients necessary for the growth of the fetus.
- Smoking. It has been proven that regular smoking has a damaging effect on blood vessels, thereby provoking a decrease in the supply of oxygen to the child's body. This situation will also enhance the motor activity of the fetus, as it causes him pronounced discomfort.
If the expectant mother thinks that, for some reason, her baby has begun to show too vigorous activity, then she should definitely discuss this with her obstetrician-gynecologist. Only a doctor observing the course of pregnancy can determine whether this condition is an individual feature or is it a manifestation of pathology.
How is it located in the womb?
The location of the fetus in the uterus is a very important clinical sign. The choice of delivery technique will depend on how the baby is located in the womb. So, if the child is in a cephalic presentation, and the woman does not have any severe pathologies, then in this case it is possible to carry out natural independent childbirth, with a breech presentation, a cesarean section is usually performed. The fact is that the likelihood of developing dangerous traumatic injuries with the last variant of the location of the baby in the uterus is very high.
It is important to note that the way the baby lies in the mother's womb may still change before delivery. This usually happens with very active fidget babies who "like" to twirl and twirl. There is still a lot of time left before the onset of labor, which means that doctors will determine the location of the baby in the uterus several times. It often happens that just a few weeks before the birth, the baby changes its position.
For information on how the fetus develops at 26 weeks of gestation, see the next video.
