5th month of pregnancy: finding out the sex of your baby!

The 5th month of your pregnancy is the one in which you can find out some important information: is it a girl or a boy? Their sex is visible on the ultrasound (unless they are hiding)! They are growing and so are you: everything is as it should be!

Your baby’s brain is hard at work!

Your baby’s skin is still very fine, and they look all wrinkled! This is normal at this stage of your pregnancy, as they have not yet built up any fat stores (that’s still to come).

Their skin is protected and covered in a thick white substance known as the vernix caseosa1.

Throughout the 5th month of pregnancy, it’s your unborn child’s brain that is the centre of attention. The time has come to form its fantastic branches.

They are now able to “concentrate” on this because their nerve cells have finished dividing. A hive of activity, it now has between 12 and 14 billion!1

Their hair and nails are starting to grow, and they measure approximately 28 centimetres from head to heel by the end of this month.


The sex of your baby is (finally) visible on the ultrasound

At the end of the first week of this 5th month, you are half way through your pregnancy! Your unborn child sleeps between 16 and 20 hours a day1, and their phases of wakefulness don’t go unnoticed!

The times your baby is asleep are probably not completely attuned to yours, and it is quite possible that their movements will wake you up in the middle of the night.

Did you know? Thanks to you and your wonderful body, your unborn child is now developing in around 500 cm³ of amniotic fluid2!

Lastly, this 5th month is one of a significant discovery: your unborn child’s sex can now be seen on the ultrasound. The time has come to think about the important question of names…

1Béatrice Knoepfler, with the participation of Dr Jean-Philippe Bault, Le calendrier de votre grossesse, Eyrolles.

2Laurence Pernoud and Agnès Grison, J’attends un enfant, éditions Pierre Horey

BA20-629


Breast milk is the ideal food for infants. WHO recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first 6 months and then continuation thereof until the age of 2 alongside the introduction, from 6 months, of safe and appropriate complementary foods. Please consult a healthcare professional if you need any advice about feeding your baby.