Week 24 of Pregnancy: What's Going On Inside

Topic Overview

By week 24, you may have noticed some jerking movements inside your belly-or even seen them on the outside! Repetitive, jerky movements usually mean your baby has the hiccups. Hiccups are perfectly normal and can last anywhere from a minute to an hour.

Wondering what your baby looks like now? As you enter your seventh month of pregnancy, your baby is about the size of a cantaloupe. Average baby length is 210 mm (8.3 in.). And average baby weight is 630 g (1.4 lb).

How your baby is changing

Here are some of the important facts and developments around 24 weeks.

• This month, the fetus is still building up body fat and starting to put on a lot of weight.
• At this size, a fetus is still small enough to change position a lot-from head-down to feet-down, or even sideways. You will feel more movement or less movement at certain times of the day and night.
• At 23 weeks of pregnancy, the eyes show rapid eye movement.
• In rare cases, babies survive birth at 22 weeks, but generally, the lungs cannot yet breathe air.