Welcome to your week 34 pregnancy update where we outline the changes you and your baby are experiencing.

Your Baby

You will be happy to know that if your bub wants to make her way out of your cosy belly between week 34 and week 37 weeks she is likely to survive.

Baby is 45 cm long and weighs 2.15kg. Your baby’s eyes are fully open now. The eyes will only close now when your baby sleeps. And your baby is sleeping in regular patterns right now, and you may be aware of her sleep pattern. Even though your baby’s eyes are open, she doesn’t have good eyesight. Even after she is born, it will take several weeks for her vision to be clear and focus on objects. She will rely on other senses such as hearing and smell to identify people until she can clearly focus.

Your baby can also determine the difference between sweet and sour tastes. Premature babies born as early as 33 weeks have been observed to suck harder on a teat dipped in glucose.

You may notice your baby’s movements changing in character (to be more ‘stretches’ and ‘squirms’) as they grow larger and there is comparatively less room for them to move.

Just like adults, all babies are different and develop at varying rates in the womb. This information gives a general idea of your baby’s development and progress.

The Mum Update

Your unborn baby can detect subtle changes in the flavour of the amniotic fluid she floats in. It is believed these changes act as a ‘flavour bridge’ to their mother’s breast milk which also changes flavour depending on what the mother eats (such as sugar, garlic or curry). This means when baby is born she is already used to changes in taste – how clever is that!

During the last trimester of your pregnancy, you may discover you leak a little urine when you cough, sneeze, exercise or lift something. Don’t panic! This is called stress incontinence and is quite normal as your uterus enlarges and puts pressure on your bladder. Mention it to your LMC so a urinary-tract infection, which may also cause incontinence, can be ruled out.

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