Pregnancy Week 21 Development: What To Expect And One Beneficial Food

On the 21st week of your pregnancy, you can expect a lot more changes to come. Everyday is a new experience. While some women are enjoying their pregnancy, there are others who struggle with the undesirable symptoms of their pregnancy.

What Happens on The 21st Week of Pregnancy?

Baby

By this time, your baby should be around 3/4; of a pound and is around 10 1/2 in length. The baby's fluttering movements inside your body become more evident. Her eyelids and eyebrows are now forming and if you are having a baby girl, her vagina is now developing.

Pregnancy Week 21 Development: What To Expect And One Beneficial Food

This week, your baby begins to have a sense of taste. In fact, he can now swallow a bit of the amniotic fluid. This means that your baby also eats everything on your menu.

What Happens to the Mother's Body?

As the baby gets bigger everyday, pregnant women can now begin to notice the presence of stretch marks on their body. These purple, red and pink streaks are pretty normal during pregnancy because the tissues under the skin are torn due to the stretching skin. But of course, not all women have stretch marks. You can only have it if you have gained weight rapidly or your mom have it when she was also pregnant.

By this week, you can no longer mistake the baby's movements for gas. Your baby is actually making a lot of movements in your body. You can now feel the baby twisting, kicking and turning inside the womb. Symptoms such as bleeding gums, backaches, varicose veins, hearty appetites and flatulence are still present. You can also notice that your hair and nails are growing at such a rapid rate.

Being Pregnant...

It cannot be denied that mothers only want the best of health for their babies. Maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle is very important in every pregnancy. Pregnant women should be extra careful with the foods they take in during this very crucial stage. A special diet mostly composed of fruits and vegetables is very beneficial in optimizing the health and condition of the baby.

Lemons for Pregnancy

Lemons are probably one of the healthiest foods to eat during the early stages of pregnancy. This citrus fruits brings a lot of vitamins and nutrients which are very beneficial not just to the mother but to the baby as well.

According to research, aside from the nutrients which lemons give, this fruit is also helpful in warding off the undesirable symptoms of pregnancy such as morning sickness. According to the American Pregnancy Association, lemon is effective in easing nausea which is associated with pregnancy. Eating, sucking or sniffing lemons can help a lot in easing queasiness.

Lemons are excellent sources of nutrients such as copper, magnesium, phosphorus, folate, manganese, thiamine, niacin, Vitamin B6, riboflavin and panthothenic acid. Folates are known to be beneficial in preventing the development of neural tube defects in foetus. On the other hand, potassium is an essential mineral which helps in regulating the balance of chemicals and fluids in the body, most especially when the body is expanding in such a rapid rate. Lack of potassium usually results to leg and muscle cramps.

A tablespoon of lemon juice actually delivers 7 grams of Vitamin C, which is around 8% of the daily recommended Vitamin C intake in pregnant women. Lemons are great sources of Vitamin C which is useful in boosting the immune system of the body. Aside from its ability to ward off illnesses, Vitamin C also plays a vital role in promoting tissue repair. Furthermore, it assists the process of cartilage, collagen and mental development.

Lemons contain compounds which can help in reducing one's cravings for salt. When salt is taken excessively, it can result to blood pressure problems and swelling.

Lemons are also known for its antibiotic and antioxidant properties. Antioxidants play a vital role in inhibiting the division process of cancer cells. The fruit actually contains limonoid compounds which are scientifically proven to be effective in helping the body fight against cancers of the lung, colon, mouth, breast, stomach and skin.

Though lemon is beneficial in the body during pregnancy, pregnant women who are experience severe heartburn and gastrointestinal discomfort should avoid taking this fruit as it can exacerbate their condition.

Pregnancy Week 21 Development: What To Expect And One Beneficial Food

Find FREE expert information about the progress of your baby in the 21st week of your pregnancy, on the blog of Merrion Fetal Health. The ultrasound clinic in Dublin has long years of experience in providing state of the art pregnancy scans.

Child Development - Infant Stage

Child development psychology classifies child development in the infancy stage into three sub stages. From birth to fifteen to twenty seconds it's the pertinent period. Until the time the baby emerges from its mother's womb separated by cutting and tying of the umbilical cord, the child is a parasite and makes no adjustments to the postnatal environment. From thirty minutes to the end of two weeks the infant is now separate, independent and individual-no longer a parasite.

Physical development:

Infant

The physical growth development is fast with a faster rate in function of nervous system.

Child development behaviors:

All child development theories hint out that infancy stage of child development is the shortest of all developmental periods. Infancy begins with birth and ends when it is two weeks old. It is the time that the fetus must adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the mother after approximately nine months.

i) It requires approximately two weeks to adjusting to the new environment.

ii) Infancy is a plateau in development. The rapid growth and development which took place during the prenatal period suddenly comes to stop with birth. There is a slight regression such as loss of weight, less strong and healthy than it was at the time of birth. This characteristic of plateau is due to the necessity for radical adjustments to the postnatal environment. Once the adjustments are made the infant resumes its growth and development, so no fear is needed about this characteristic.

iii) Infancy is a preview of the later growth development. It is not possible to predict exactly what the future development of the individual ll be on the basis of the development at birth. We notice only a clue of what to expect later on.

iv) The child development period in infancy stage is hazardous both physically and psychologically. Physically the infant finds it difficult in making adjustments to the new environment. Psychologically the infant suffers a little when the attitudes of significant people towards the infant radically changes.

Environment of adjustments:

The infant begins to gain child development skills and make adjustments to the new environment after birth.

i) Change in temperature requires adjustment. There is a constant temperature of 100*F in the uterine sac and it is 60 to 70*F in the hospital or at home ii) Breathing by own starts. When the umbilical cord is cut the infant must begin to breathe on its own.

iii) Sucking and swallowing is a self learning development. When the umbilical cord is cut off, the child gets nourishment by the reflexes of sucking and swallowing instead of receiving it from the mother through umbilical cord.

iv) Elimination of waste products begins. Letting out urine and stools is not a matter of adjustment

v) But some infants are seen to have trouble shooting with elimination matters.

Emotional development:

Specific and identifiable emotional changes cannot be seen at birth. Anyhow some reactions may be there as facial expressions of pleasantness and unpleasantness. These are characterized by the relaxing and tensing of the body. Whatever may be the stimulus the resultant emotion is intense and instant.

Social development:

There is nothing to tell about this behavior as it's just the starting point.

It's best suggested that the mother maintains a child development chart of everything about the infant child and for achieving the child developmental milestones.

Child Development - Infant Stage

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