You have reached the 11th week of pregnancy and you are curious about the changes in your baby and yourself. Week by week, your baby is getting bigger and bigger and you have a lot of questions. How big is an 11-week baby? How is the 11-week baby developing? Can the 11-week baby's movements be felt? Will the 11th week reveal the gender? What are the changes in the mother? Some of these questions...

Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yeditepe University Hospitals and IVF Specialist Prof. Dr. Erkut Attar answered the curious questions. Here is the 11-week pregnancy process and the baby's development...

How Big is an 11-Week baby?

Head-to-butt length is now about 4.1-5 cm and weighing 8 g, your baby is the size of a lime. The head and body are of equal size. (1:1). 

Baby Development at 11 Weeks of Pregnancy

Your baby's face looks more human as its features are forming and its mouth is almost fully formed. The eyes are widely separated, the eyelids are fused, and the ears are lower than in a newborn. Inside the mouth, the palate bones are fused and the baby teeth are settling into their sockets.

Can an 11-Week Baby Movements be Felt?

Although its eyes are still closed, your baby is far from asleep. It is busy relaxing its muscles by kicking and stretching and may have started hiccupping because its diaphragm is stronger. However, you are unlikely to feel these small movements. Most mothers don't feel anything until 16 to 18 weeks and longer if this is their first baby. Most of your baby's critical development will be over in the next few weeks. For the next six months, its main task will be to grow even bigger and make its brain grow faster.

Baby’s Gender at 11th Week

By the end of this week, your baby's external genitalia will start to develop into a penis or clitoris and labia majora.

Changes in the mother at 11 Weeks of Pregnancy

The placenta develops rapidly (it will be fully formed in about 12 weeks). Until this week your belly may look big because of gas and bloating, but from this week onwards your belly will look bigger because of the baby and your uterus. If this is your first pregnancy, you may not notice the growth of your belly very clearly. With twin pregnancies and subsequent pregnancies, you will see your belly grow much faster. You will also see noticeable growth in your breasts. Between 11-14 weeks on average, a "dual test", known as the first-trimester screening test, can be performed by combining the nuchal translucency measurement with a blood sample taken from the mother.

Image of a 11-13 Weeks-Old Baby 

1 Question | 1 Answer about Pregnancy

• Is Climbing Stairs Dangerous?

In the first trimester and the last trimester of pregnancy, climbing stairs in buildings higher than 3 floors may pose a risk. If there is no risk of miscarriage, if it is not multiple pregnancies, and if there is no possibility of premature birth, climbing up and down stairs does not have any serious side effects.