7th month of pregnancy: the beginning of the final trimester and you are putting the finishing touches to your master work

Here you are in the third trimester of your pregnancy. At the beginning of this 7th month, your baby weighs around a third of their birth weight. You are glowing and have a beautiful baby bump. All your baby’s organs are in place and the time has come to perfect the details!


Your baby’s lungs are hard at work

At the beginning of this final trimester of your pregnancy, your unborn child measures around 34 cm1 from head to heels. They will grow to around 40 cm1 by the end of this month!

As for the details, your unborn child’s eyelids now have eyelashes and they occasionally open their eyes. Inside their lungs, their bronchial tubes are growing to form a tree that will work as soon as they are born.

Did you know? The lungs are the last organs to be finished while they are in the uterus1.

Finally, you know that your unborn child is able to swallow. 

Perhaps you occasionally feel jerky motions in your belly? This is a sign that your baby has the hiccups!

Uterus in preparation and the first little contractions

At the end of your 7th month of pregnancy, your unborn child will take up almost all the space in your uterus, so they won’t be able to move around quite so much.

And speaking of your uterus, you may start feeling something new: your belly becomes very hard for around 20 seconds and looks slightly cubic, but it doesn’t hurt at all.

These are most likely contractions known as “isometric” contractions2. They are a sign that your uterus is starting to get ready for the big day of the birth.

Of course, if these contractions are painful, you should go and see your doctor or the healthcare professional monitoring your pregnancy.

Lastly, this 7th month of pregnancy is also the one in which you need to think about properly resting if you feel tired.

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

2Bernadette de Gasquet, Bien-être et maternité, Albin Michel.

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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.