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WOMEN'S & CHILDREN'S | Family Maternity Center | Pregnancy Resource Center | Pregnancy Library | Baby Development | Your Growing Baby: Month Four - The body starts to catch up
Your Growing Baby: Month Four - The body starts to catch up
Toward the end of this month you may experience the thrill of your first kick-though you may not recognize it as such. Baby's first movements, usually first between the 16th and 20th weeks, are sometimes described as a fluttering feeling, like butterflies inside. Up until this point most of the fetus growth has been in the head; from now on the rest of the body starts to catch up.
Your growing baby is now some 6 to 7 inches long and weighs about 5 ounces.
At this stage your baby has now formed:
- Kidneys can make urine. Baby can swallow amniotic fluid.
- Skin is pink and transparent and covered with a downy hair called lanugo.
- Actual hair starts to appear, along with eyebrows and eyelashes.
- Placenta is fully formed.
- Umbilical cord continues to grow and thicken, enough to carry nourishment from mother to baby (as well as "toxins" such as alcohol and drugs).
- Heartbeat can be clearly heard.
- Reflexes are functioning.
- Ears become fully functional by the 16th week; fetus can hear your voice and may respond to sound.
Date last reviewed: October 2002.
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