The first joys of realizing that you are pregnant have subsided, and you have entered the phase of waiting for your belly to be visible. Young girls, having just become pregnant, immediately believe that their belly is growing literally every hour. And when nothing like that happens, panic occurs. At what stage of pregnancy is the belly visible?

In girls, during their first pregnancy, the tummy does not grow as quickly as they would like. There is only one reason - their muscles are strong and not stretched. As a rule, it can appear by the beginning of the fourth month, and will acquire impressive sizes by the seventh month.

Note that there are no general standard sizes of the abdomen within a certain time frame; everything here is purely individual and depends on the structure of the body and physiological characteristics. You can measure your tummy with a regular measuring tape. To do this, just apply the beginning of the tape to the navel area in front, while fixing a point in the middle of the lower back from behind. The number on the marked point will indicate the size of the abdomen at a certain stage of pregnancy.

The shape of the tummy itself depends on the various characteristics of each woman, while the gender of the child has absolutely no influence on this fact.

When does the belly of expectant mothers begin to enlarge?

Increasing female roundness has always been considered individually. The appearance of a belly already in the third month is not necessarily caused by pregnancy; the reason can be very prosaic - ordinary overeating.

It also happens that the mother has already felt the fetus moving, but there is not even a hint of the belly and it begins to appear from the 7th month. Sometimes people around are surprised when a woman was pregnant, because they see that she has simply gained weight proportionally. Her belly is completely invisible, she just gained extra pounds.

In women with a wide pelvis, the tummy is visible at 4-5 months; in the second pregnancy, the appearance of the belly is observed earlier. The belly is not so noticeable if the woman is a professional athlete or plays sports. Such women have developed abdominal muscles, which affects the size of the abdomen. In obese women, the tummy is also not visible.

If a woman has doubts about this, when she has a lot of doubts about the normal development of the baby, it is best to contact her gynecologist. It is he, your attending physician, who can dispel all your suspicions.

Fetal sizes at different stages of pregnancy

Most women want to know how the baby is developing and, naturally, are interested in the size of the child at different stages of their interesting position. Its length at 12 weeks is about 7 cm, its weight is generally tiny - 20-25 grams. A child grows up to 12 cm by the 16th week, and body weight is 100 grams. Already 26 cm at 20 weeks, and weight - about 300 grams. By the 28th week of pregnancy, the baby’s length reaches 35 cm, and the weight is already quite significant - 1200 g. The baby's length at 32 weeks will be up to 42 cm and body weight will be about 1700 grams. The indicators increase at 36 weeks and are, respectively, height 48 cm, weight 2500 g. Note that the weight of a baby born to term is 2600-5000 g.

But all these data are relative and you should buy clothes that are more spacious, otherwise there is a chance of miscalculation.

When does the belly grow in pregnant twins?

The situation is completely different if a woman is carrying twins. In this case, the growth of the abdomen differs significantly and for obvious reasons. In case of multiple pregnancy, rounding of the tummy is observed in the first trimester of pregnancy. It turns out that the uterus grows a whole four weeks earlier. Naturally, weight gain is significant.

If it doesn’t show twins, and your belly has become too large, don’t worry about it. All this is individual and it is possible that the timing of your pregnancy was calculated incorrectly. And this happens, and due to the difference - an increase in the abdomen.

What affects the growth of the abdomen during pregnancy?

There are many factors that influence belly growth.

1. This is primarily heredity. It’s better to ask your mother about this, how she walked while pregnant, and whether her belly was visible.
2. Next are the anatomical manifestations. Height, weight, build - all these indicators affect the visibility and roundness of the abdomen. All children in the womb grow the same way, but in petite women the belly will be visible faster than at the same time in a full woman.
3. What kind of pregnancy is it? During the 2nd and 3rd pregnancy, a woman’s muscles are already quite stretched; naturally, the belly is also visible earlier.
4. General weight gain. The reason may be a woman’s excellent appetite. It is quite possible that she eats for three.
5. Growth rate and size of the fetus. A large baby affects the size of the mother's tummy, and it grows faster.
6. Type of presentation. A child located closer to the spine will not affect the enlargement of the abdomen, but if located closer to the anterior wall of the uterus itself, of course, in this case the abdomen will be more visible.

I would like to note that the expectant mother should not be puzzled by such questions, much less compare herself with other women. The main thing a woman should pay attention to is compliance with all doctor’s recommendations, good health and a positive attitude.

After childbirth, due to waste of birth fluids, women lose at least 800 grams of weight. There is no need to be scared by the appearance of your belly after childbirth. It will disappear, just go on a diet, do the appropriate exercises and the belly will regain its attractiveness.

To find out if your weight is normal during pregnancy in a particular week, use the free website.

For every woman, becoming a mother means making huge changes in her life. Therefore, they want to know everything about this, especially how the fetus should develop correctly in pregnant women? These questions are asked quite often, especially by those who are preparing to become mothers for the first time.

First, let’s explain the definition of “tummy.” A woman's belly may grow larger, the reason for this is poor nutrition or gas formation. In these first months, the uterus is not yet enlarged.

Pregnant women come to a point when they begin to think: “at what stage does the belly begin to grow?” Let's try to answer this question. The uterus begins to grow only at 16 weeks from the moment of conception. Therefore, the belly will be noticeable to other people only if a woman plays sports, i.e. if she has developed abs, her tummy will become visible much later.
Also, the appearance of a belly depends on what type of pelvis the pregnant woman has. If the expectant mother’s pelvis is wide enough, her tummy will become visible only by the 4-5th month of pregnancy. In obese women, it will be possible to notice the “position” even later. In women who give birth for the second time, the belly may appear earlier. The number of embryos can also affect the size of the abdomen, namely, making it larger. This is the only thing that can really affect at what month the belly appears in pregnant women. If the expectant mother has triplets or twins, then the belly may be noticeable already in the first 3 months.

In general, the answer to the question of what week of pregnancy the belly begins to grow will be as follows. If a woman has one fetus and its development is going well, then the belly should appear only at the 12th week of pregnancy. Already at week 16, your tummy will become noticeable not only to you.
And the question is: at what time does the belly begin to grow? - will not be relevant, since by this moment it will be impossible to hide your baby under blouses and other clothes.
At the same time, the expectant mother should be interested not only in what period the belly begins to grow, but also in how her baby should develop correctly.
At 8 - 10 weeks of pregnancy it reaches a diameter of 22 mm.
At the time when it is necessary to register, namely, by 12 weeks, the length of the fetus will be seven centimeters, and its weight will reach 20-25 grams. At this time, when you come for an ultrasound, you can see that the fertilized egg has almost completely filled the uterine cavity.

By the time the fruit reaches a length of 12 cm, its body weight will increase to 100 grams. By this time, the question of at what time the belly begins to grow disappears on its own, since all the worries associated with it are already behind us. The tummy has noticeably grown and become rounder.

By week 20, the length of the fetus will reach 25 cm with a weight of about 300 g. At 24 weeks, your baby will have time to grow significantly. By this time, its length will be almost 30 cm, and its weight will vary from 600 to 700 grams.

By week 28, the length of the fetus is usually 35 cm with a body weight of about 1.0-1.2 kg. At the 32nd week it will grow to 1.5 kg with a fetal length of 40 cm.
At week 36, the baby is practically formed, and its indicators by this time will be as follows: weight - 2.5 kg, and length - about 48 cm.

However, it is impossible to say that these indicators are the same for everyone. They are quite individual, since the baby in the womb of each mother is formed in its own way. Therefore, the above data is very average, and your baby may reach large sizes or be slightly smaller due to individual characteristics.
The body weight of the fetus by the date of birth is usually 2.6-5.0 kg, and its length can reach 54 cm.

Thus, for the expectant mother it should be important: to carry the child for the entire required period and provide him with everything necessary for full growth and nutrition, but the tummy and its size are not the most important thing.

Probably every woman, pregnant or just dreaming of conceiving a child, is interested in the question of what month the belly appears. There may be several reasons for this interest. Firstly, this helps many women who are “in pregnancy” to understand and finally realize that they will soon have a baby. Secondly, it is convenient for understanding when it will be necessary to update your wardrobe.

Many women don’t even think about the fact that before the beginning of the second trimester, the belly appears mainly due to an increase in the size of the uterus and amniotic fluid, while the baby grows only a couple of centimeters during this period.

We can say that at what month the belly is visible is an indicator that is individual for each woman. However, it must be within the established norm, otherwise the presence of pathologies can be assumed. But still, in what month each woman’s belly appears is an indicator that depends on many reasons. Thus, plump ladies notice the appearance of a rounded belly later, but in girls of normal build it is visible at about 12 weeks. The month in which the belly appears during pregnancy is also influenced by factors such as heredity, as well as whether the woman has been involved in sports, and what kind of pregnancy she has. Overweight ladies notice the appearance of a rounded belly later, but in girls of normal build it is visible around 12 weeks. Those representatives of the fairer sex who were actively involved in sports will notice its appearance later, because their muscles are in better shape. The appearance of a belly also depends on whether it is the first pregnancy. During the second and subsequent pregnancies, the growth of the abdomen becomes noticeable earlier, because the muscles have already been stretched. And if a girl is going to become a mother for the first time, the belly will become noticeable in the fifth (sometimes fourth) month.

The month in which the belly appears may also be related to your health status. For example, a tendency to bloating does not contribute to its increase. If a woman faces such a problem, doctors recommend eating small portions and avoiding smoked, spicy, salty and fried foods. It is advisable to eat dates, dried apricots and bananas.

Various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can also affect the period at which the belly appears. It is necessary to understand that in no case should it be ignored because it can be caused by various reasons. If pain or sharpness occurs, you should consult a doctor without delay.

Changes in the weight of a woman expecting a child and the circumference of her abdomen help doctors draw conclusions about the course of pregnancy. After registration, a woman should regularly visit a specialist for monitoring. Frequent examinations in a chair are contraindicated, so the doctor focuses on measuring the abdominal circumference (this value, however, is quite variable). A slight deviation from the norm should not bother a woman, because this may be due to the individual characteristics of her body.

One of the undeniable and most significant signs of pregnancy is an enlarged belly. But why does it start to grow at all? It seems that the answer lies on the surface: because a child grows in it. And this should happen to every normal expectant mother; pregnancy still lasts for 9 months. But in reality, everything is a little more complicated. And, as it turns out, how your belly grows can tell specialists a lot...

During pregnancy, the belly increases due to 3 factors: the growth of the baby itself, the growth of the uterus and the increase in amniotic fluid.

At what month does the belly begin to grow? It should be noted that the answer is not as simple as it might seem. After all, the question is very ambiguous and delicate. The growth of the tummy is influenced by the factors described above.

Note! There is an average indicator at what time the belly begins to grow in most pregnant women. Gynecologists call the figure 16 weeks, that is, from about four months.

But, probably, many of you know cases when a woman’s belly is so invisible that she manages to hide her interesting position for up to 6-7 months. Believe me, there are people who manage to hide their pregnancy until the ninth month.

But there are also opposite stories, when pregnant women’s bellies appeared literally in the second month. In general, one thing is clear from all this: the belly can begin to grow in absolutely any month and in any trimester. It may not begin to manifest itself too clearly at all - in cases of the so-called “hidden pregnancy”.

Factors

In addition to those listed, we can also identify the following factors that influence the growth of a pregnant woman’s tummy:

1. Women who become pregnant for the first time most often begin to notice an enlarged abdomen quite late. And his growth is slow. This can be explained by the fact that the abdominal muscles of such women are still quite strong and they simply simply resist stretching. But those lucky women who have already become mothers several times say that with the advent of each new pregnancy, the belly began to appear earlier and earlier. This is due, again, to the fact that the muscles have become more elastic.
2. Heredity. She also contributes to the growth of the pregnant belly. Ask your mother and grandmother how soon their belly began to appear. You can use their answers as a guide; most likely, yours will grow in the same way.
3. The anatomical features of each woman have a very large influence. If you're small and skinny, you can expect to see a baby bump a little earlier than everyone else. Not only will it begin to grow faster, but it will also appear very large.
4. If nature has blessed you with curvaceous figures, tall stature and wide hips, you can expect that not only those around you, but also you yourself will begin to notice the growth of your tummy only closer to the middle of pregnancy.
5. The size of the fetus naturally has a big impact on how quickly your belly appears. The faster your baby develops, the sooner you will notice changes in your figure. In addition, it is very important how exactly the child lies in the womb of a woman. If, for example, it is located close to the spine, do not expect to see an increase in the tummy soon - it will remain small for a long time. But if you have an adherence to the anterior wall of the uterus, the belly will begin to appear in the early stages of pregnancy.

Almost all expectant mothers are interested in how long the belly grows, especially if this is their first pregnancy. After all, it is quite difficult, again for those who have become pregnant for the first time, to realize that a new life has arisen and is growing inside you and that this is not a dream. It also becomes scary because it is impossible to understand whether everything is fine with the baby and whether he is developing normally. There is another rather banal reason for such interest: the desire to find out how soon you will have to update your wardrobe.

It is believed that the timing of abdominal growth during pregnancy is very individual. If you visited forums for expectant mothers, you probably read stories about how one woman’s belly appeared already at 5 weeks, while another’s was barely visible at 30. This, of course, is true. But just pay attention to the key word in this sentence – “belly”. After all, it can grow even in a non-pregnant woman, from overeating, for example. Or due to excessive gas formation, which is also often found in expectant mothers.

Therefore, those who claim that the belly can begin to grow already in the first trimester are a little mistaken. Specifically, they simply confuse the stomach with the uterus. Her rapid growth begins around the 16th week. And after 20 weeks, others will be able to understand that the woman they see is in an interesting position.

What do the doctors say?

What do doctors say about this? At approximately 7-8 weeks of pregnancy, a woman registers with the antenatal clinic. And it is from this moment that doctors begin to monitor the growth and development of the fetus. For example, at week 10 there is still no need to talk about any more or less noticeable belly. In addition, the doctor measures the abdominal circumference of the pregnant woman every time during examinations. He regularly enters this data into the pregnant woman’s individual card. As you understand, this value (abdominal circumference) is very variable. It depends on how the baby is positioned in the uterus, on the amount of amniotic fluid, and on the volume of the fat layer.

After a woman finds out about her interesting situation, a large number of questions arise in her head. Some of them relate to your own health, while others relate to changes in appearance during pregnancy. Sometimes women don’t want strangers to know about their little secret. Therefore, they are concerned about the question of at what month of pregnancy the belly appears.

If before pregnancy a woman carefully monitored her appearance, visited gyms or exercised at home on an exercise bike, and also worked out her abs, then she may develop a belly much earlier than those girls who ignored physical exercise.

During pregnancy, certain factors influence the enlargement of the pregnant belly:

• The amount of amniotic fluid.
• Fetal growth.
• Growth of the uterus.

There is no clear answer to the question of when a pregnant belly appears, since in most cases this is an individual phenomenon. But most often, the first visible signs of pregnancy appear at 16 weeks. But some lucky women manage to hide their interesting position for up to 7 months; in rare cases, pregnancy is not visible even at 9 months.

There are often cases when a tummy appears already in the second month of gestation. Based on this, it should be understood that a pregnant belly can appear at absolutely any stage.

The following conditions affect the growth of the abdomen:

• During the first pregnancy, expectant mothers begin to notice the appearance of a belly much later than those who are about to have a second or subsequent birth. This is explained by the fact that firstborns have much stronger abdominal muscles than those who gave birth.
• Heredity plays an important role in the appearance of a tummy. Ask your mother and grandmother at what time it appeared in them, and expect it to appear in you around the same time.
• Small and thin girls develop a belly earlier than tall girls. The belly not only begins to appear faster, but also seems much larger than that of other pregnant women.
• Those who are tall, curvaceous, and have wide hips can walk around until they give birth without anyone knowing about their interesting position.
• The size and weight of the baby affects when the baby bump appears. The more the baby develops, the faster the belly appears in the expectant mother. Another important factor is the position of the fetus. If the baby is located closer to the spine, the belly will appear later than in those whose baby is attached to the front wall.

How to care for your belly during pregnancy

The second most important question after what month of pregnancy the belly appears is information on how to care for it to avoid stretch marks.

The occurrence of stretch marks largely depends on heredity and the elasticity of women's skin. If your mother had stretch marks during pregnancy, then you are unlikely to be able to avoid them. But you can still try to prevent their occurrence. To do this, you need to moisturize the skin on your stomach every day and wear a bandage after your tummy appears. It is advisable to actively engage in physical exercise before planning pregnancy so that the skin becomes firm and elastic.

If stretch marks appear, then you should not despair. After giving birth, after a certain amount of time, you can visit a cosmetology office and negotiate with a specialist about removing stretch marks using a laser.

But you should not ignore pain in the abdominal area. To begin with, a pregnant woman needs to decide what exactly hurts her. In most cases, the abdominal muscles begin to ache due to an increase in its volume, as the muscles stretch during pregnancy. Often this discomfort goes away quite quickly.

If your stomach hurts, then the expectant mother should reconsider her diet and reduce the number of servings. If you have pulling pains in the lower abdomen, which are similar to menstrual discomfort, you should immediately consult a specialist, as such symptoms may be harbingers of premature birth, placental abruption, or indicate a miscarriage.

Often, the expectant mother is worried about bloating. This is explained by the fact that the growing uterus takes up more and more space, leaving less and less space for the organs of the digestive system. To get rid of bloating, it is advisable to reduce the amount of food consumed, as well as avoid foods that can cause bloating. Include bananas and dried fruits in your diet, and avoid carbonated drinks.

In the early stages of pregnancy, a woman may feel her stomach become hard. Such symptoms may indicate uterine tone, so it is necessary to tell the doctor about them during your next appointment at the antenatal clinic.

In the later stages, such a sign may indicate the onset of labor, so you should not be alarmed. It’s better to check whether you have packed everything for the maternity hospital, and then feel free to go there for your personal miracle. You can also use papaverine suppositories or drink nosh-pu, after which the tone goes away on its own.

Video: When the belly begins to grow in pregnant women