Pregnancy week 16: symptoms, baby size and tips
Pregnancy week 16 keeps you right in the second trimester, the stage many describe as the easiest: nausea has usually settled, your energy is back and your bump is starting to show for real. Your baby is now about 11 or 12 centimetres, roughly the size of an avocado, and this week brings lovely new things: they can start to perceive light, hear you better every day and pull faces. Let me walk you through it.
If you’re coming from pregnancy week 15, you’re on a great track. And to have the whole path at hand, check out our pregnancy week by week guide.
What is pregnancy week 16?
As always, pregnancy weeks are counted from the first day of your last period (LMP), not from conception. In week 16 you’re about 14 weeks from fertilisation, in your fourth month (weeks 14–17) and still in the second trimester, which runs from week 13 to week 28.
By now the placenta is a well-oiled machine: it makes the hormones (mainly progesterone and oestrogen) and feeds your baby with everything they need through the umbilical cord, which is growing thicker and stronger this week. Your uterus keeps rising above your pelvis, which usually means a more visible bump and less pressure on your bladder than in the early months.
What can you see on a week 16 scan?
This usually isn’t a routine scan week for everyone, but if you have one, it’s a lovely moment because your baby already looks like a real baby:
- They’re starting to perceive light: their eyelids are still closed, but the muscles of the eyes are active and the brain responds to light. If a bright light reaches them, they notice the change.
- They hear you better every day: the tiny ear bones are settling into place and their hearing keeps sharpening. They pick up your voice, your heartbeat and the sounds of your digestion.
- They pull faces: the facial muscles are developing and they can frown, squint and open their mouth.
- They hold their head more upright: their neck is getting stronger and they no longer look so curled up.
- They stretch and bend their arms and legs, move their joints and turn around non-stop.
- Their skin is still thin and see-through, which reveals the pattern of their blood vessels, and it’s covered in fine hair called lanugo.
If you haven’t taken a test yet, don’t worry: your hCG is still high and any test is very reliable. You can [take our free online
