How big is my baby? Week-by-week fruit and veggie comparisons

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During pregnancy, your amazing baby grows from poppy seed to pumpkin. Isn’t it incredible that something the size of a grape can turn your world upside down? To get a sense of baby size by week, check out our baby fruit size guide comparing your baby’s approximate length and weight to fruits and vegetables. We’ve used official averages for baby growth by week and produce sizes.

November 05th 2023  |  Originally posted on: May 2nd, 2022

measuring belly_pumpkinspice

Photo credit: gpointstudio

How big is my baby?

The next time you walk through the grocery store, spend a few minutes perusing the produce aisle. Though it may seem odd to compare your baby to something edible, it’s a practice that goes back centuries. In olden times, people used common agricultural items (like seeds, nuts, and fruits) to estimate the size of babies in the womb. These days we have more variety – including fruits and veggies from around the globe. BabyCenter’s baby fruit size comparisons were the first on the web, started in 1997 by staffers who noticed that parents call babies-to-be “little peanut” or “little bean” and ran with the concept.

4 weeks: Your baby is the size of a poppy seed

Your pregnancy may be detectable in a week or so by a home pregnancy test.

5 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a sesame seed

Your baby now looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human.

6 weeks: Your baby is the size of a poppy Lentil

Your baby now looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human.

7 weeks: Your baby is the size of a poppy blueberry

Your baby has doubled in size since last week and is now about 1/2 inch long.

8 weeks: Your baby is the size of a Kidney Bean

Your little bean is now just over 1/2 inch long and is constantly moving and shifting.

9 weeks: Your baby is the size of a grape

Your baby now weighs almost an ounce and is almost 1 inch long. Their eyes are fully formed but their eyelids will be fused shut until 27 weeks.

10 weeks: Your baby is the size of a kumquat

Your baby now weighs a little over an ounce and is a little over 1 inch long from head to bottom.

11 weeks: Your baby is the size of a fig

Your baby now weighs a little At just over 1 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, your baby is still teeny-tiny – so while they’re already kicking and stretching, you won’t feel their acrobatics for another month or two.

12 weeks: Your baby is the size of a lime

Your lime-sized little one now weighs about 2 ounces and is just over 2 inches long from head to bottom.

13 weeks: Your baby is the size of a peapod

Your little peapod is now about 2 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and weighs about 2 1/2 ounces.

14 weeks: Your baby is the size of a lemon

Your baby – now weighing more than 3 ounces and measuring almost 6 inches from head to heel – can squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck their thumb.

You may wonder why this week’s length measurement is so much bigger than last week. Until 13 weeks of pregnancy, babies are measured from the top of their head to their “rump.” That’s because their legs are curled up against their torso during the few weeks of pregnancy, so they’re hard to measure. From here on, you’ll see the head-to-heel measurement.

15 weeks: Your baby is about the size of an apple

The future apple of your eye now weighs more than 4 ounces and is about 6 1/2 inches long from head to toe.

Until 13 weeks of pregancy, babies’s legs are curled up against their torso…

From here on, you’ll see the head-to-heel measurement.

16 weeks: Your baby is the size of an avocado

Your baby now weighs 5 ounces and is 7 inches long from head to bottom.

17 weeks: Your baby is the size of a turnip

Your little turnip now weighs about 6 1/3 ounces and is roughly 8 inches long.

18 weeks: Your baby is the size of a bell pepper

Your baby now weighs almost 8 ounces and is more than 8 1/2 inches long from head to bottom. If you’re having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you’re having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

19 weeks: Your baby is the size of a heirloom tomato

Your tomato-sized baby now weighs more than 9 1/2 ounces and is roughly 9 1/2 inches long.

20 weeks: Your baby is about the size of an apple

Your burgeoning baby now measures about 10 inches from head to heel, and weighs roughly 11 1/2 ounces.

As much time as we spent at the farmer’s market and on the USDA site, it wasn’t easy to find the perfect produce for every week of development…

The banana is just an approximation of length.

21 weeks: Your baby is the size of a carrot

Your carrot-sized cutie is now a little over 10 1/2 inches from head to heel and weighs about 14 ounces.

Editors’ note: We know what you’re thinking – “There’s no way my baby is the size of a carrot. I feel ginormous!” You’re right that your baby is bulkier than a carrot, but the head-to-heel length is similar to a good-sized carrot.

22 weeks: Your baby is the size of a spaguetti squash

At 11 1/2 inches and a little over 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn as their lips, eyelids, and eyebrows become more distinct.

23 weeks: Your baby is the size of a large mango

Your baby now weighs about 1 1/4 pounds and is more than a foot long – and if you turn on some tunes and sway to the music, they can feel you dance.

24 weeks: Your baby is about as long as an ear of corn

Your baby is now about 12 1/2 inches long from head to heel and weighs nearly 1 1/2 pounds.

25 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a rutabaga

Your baby now rivals the average rutabaga in weight – about 1 3/4 pounds – and is roughly 13 1/4 inches long from head to heel.

26 weeks: Your baby is about the length of a scallion

Your baby, now nearly 14 inches from head to heel and roughly 2 pounds, may be able to hear both your voice and the voices of people you talk to.

27 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a head of cauliflower

Your baby is now as hefty as a head of cauliflower, weighing in at about 2 1/3 pounds and measuring roughly 14 1/2 inches.

28 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a large eggplant

Your baby now weighs about 2 2/3 pounds, is almost 15 inches long from head to heel, and can blink their eyes (which now sport lashes).

29 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a butternut squash

Your baby now weighs more than 3 pounds and is about 15 1/2 inches long from head to heel.

30 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a large cabbage

Your baby tips the scales this week at almost 3 1/2 pounds and is almost 16 inches long from head to heel.

31 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a coconut

Your baby now weighs almost 4 pounds and measures about 16 1/2 inches from head to heel.

32 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a jicama

Your baby is taking up more and more space in your uterus, weighing in at about 4 1/3 pounds and measuring nearly 17 inches from head to heel.

33 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a pineapple

Measuring 17 1/3 inches from head to heel and weighing about 4 3/4 pounds, your baby is rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look, and their skeleton is hardening.

34 weeks: Your baby is about the size of cantaloupe

Your melon-sized munchkin now weighs about 5 1/4 pounds and is almost 18 inches long from head to heel.

35 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a honeydew melon

Your baby, now weighing in at 5 3/4 pounds and measuring more than 18 inches, doesn’t have much room to maneuver in your belly.

36 weeks: Your baby is about as long as a head of romaine lettuce

Your not-so-little lettuce now measures more than 18 1/2 inches from head to heel and weighs more than 6 pounds (and is still packing it on at a rate of about an ounce a day).

37 weeks: Your baby is about the length of a bunch of Swiss chard

Your baby measures roughly 19 inches from head to heel and weighs about 6 2/3 pounds.

38 weeks: Your baby is about the length of a leek

Your lanky leek is now about 19 1/2 inches long from head to heel and weighs more than 7 pounds.

39 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a mini-watermelon

Your baby now weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and is nearly 20 inches long from head to heel.

40 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a small pumpkin

Your little pumpkin could arrive any day now, if they aren’t here already. The average newborn weighs about 8 pounds and is about 20 inches long.

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Sources:

AAFP. 2020. Your baby’s development: The first trimester. American Academy of Family Physicians. https://familydoctor.org/your-babys-development-the-first-trimester/ [Accessed May 2022]

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Hadlock FP et al. 1992. Fetal cross-rump length: Reevaluation of relation to menstrual age (5-18 weeks) with high-resolution real-time US. Radiology 182: 5-1-505. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1732970/ [Accessed May 2022]

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