Baby Bones Sucking and Swallowing

 

Week 33

At 33 weeks, your baby has come a long way from his or her tiny beginnings!

Baby’s bones

Up until now, your baby’s skeleton has been made up of flexible cartilage. But, during the next few weeks, that cartilage will be getting much harder and transforming into bone. Even so, those little bones will still be softer than yours—that makes it much easier for your baby to fit through the birth canal during labor and delivery. The skull will stay even softer, and the different bones that make up baby’s skull won’t fuse until several months after birth. This way, they can flex and overlap as needed as baby makes his or her entrance into the world!

If you haven’t been doing so well at paying attention to how much calcium you’re consuming—now is the time to really make a big push toward getting the 1000 milligrams of calcium recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. After all, your baby will be taking as much as 350 milligrams of calcium from you each day, and if you aren’t getting it from your diet, your baby will take it right out of your bones!

Sucking and swallowing

Now is the time that baby’s sucking and swallowing reflexes develop, which will allow your baby to drink milk immediately after birth. This might be hard to believe, but your baby drinks as much as one pint of amniotic fluid each day! This is just one way his or her tiny body “practices” and prepares for life outside the womb.