Baby, Pregnancy, and Parenting at Babies Online » 10 months http://www.babiesonline.com/articles Babies Online Articles and Information Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:05:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 A 10 Month Pregnancy? http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/pregnancy/a10monthpregnancy.asp http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/pregnancy/a10monthpregnancy.asp#comments Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:31:18 +0000 admin http://208.79.203.56/articles/pregnancy/a10monthpregnancy.asp Is a pregnancy nine months or ten months long? This is a popular pregnancy debate with many women across message boards and in pregnancy communities today. Most people know that a pregnancy consists of the first, second and third trimester. The definition of a trimester is “A period or term of three months”. If this is the case, why do so many people consider themselves pregnant for ten months?  The answer is simple, even if not actually correct. Pregnancies are considered full term at 40 weeks, and many women count four weeks as a month while they are pregnant, making the result a ten month pregnancy. On average there are actually 4.33 weeks in a month, however that a third of a week tends to get lost in the pregnancy shuffle for much of us.

Many women also find it easier, when asked how pregnant they are, to answer in weeks instead of months, because pregnancy is generally a count down. “I am 24 weeks, only 16 weeks to go!” The most general deduction by a bystander would be that the woman is already six months pregnant, when in actuality, per the Gregorian calendar that most of the world lives by, she is only about five and a half months pregnant.

Women who consider themselves 10 months pregnant usually use this form of calculations:

WEEKS MONTH
1-4 1
9-12 3
17-20 5
25-28 7
33-36 9

For those that live by the Lunar calendar, this not only makes sense, but is absolutely correct. The Lunar calendar, which is the four weeks it takes for the moon to go from a new moon, to a full moon and back again, would make a pregnancy last for ten months.

For those that live by the Gregorian calendar, and counting by the date you started your last period (let’s say October 15), you would not be one full month pregnant until November 15 and the calculations generally look like this:

DATE MONTH
November 15 1
January 15 3
March 15 5
May 15 7
July 15 9

However, neither of these calculations is exactly accurate. The most common way to figure out your due date, including the way that most doctors calculate it, is to add nine months and seven days to the start date of your last menstrual period, which would actually be a week before you would have ovulated with a 28-day cycle. Therefore, if you started your LMP on October 15, you due date would be calculated as July 22, not July 15.

DATE MONTH WEEKS
November 15 1 4.33
January 15 3 13 (start of second trimester)
March 15 5 21.66
May 15 7 30.33
July 15 9 39

This would make your due date of July 22 be at 40 weeks exactly, or nine months and one week after you started your LMP. This being said, why would someone CHOOSE to be pregnant for ten months?

Another way to look at it is if you consider a pregnancy of 40 weeks to be ten months, and that a year has 52 weeks in it – which you also count four weeks as one month – wouldn’t this mean that your baby would be 13 months old before he turned a year, and you could celebrate his first birthday?

]]> http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/pregnancy/a10monthpregnancy.asp/feed 41 Milestones: 4-12 Months http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/baby/milestones4-12.asp http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/baby/milestones4-12.asp#comments Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:53:47 +0000 admin http://208.79.203.56/articles/baby/milestones4-12.asp During this time your baby will learn to do all kinds of new and exciting things. There is no set time when your baby will start as all babies are different and complete tasks at their own rate. At your baby’s next well-check though if you are concerned you can take this list to your pediatrician and see if there is anything that he thinks your baby is behind on.

milestones-4-12-months.jpgBy 4 months old:

  • Does your baby smile at you when you smile?
  • Does your baby watch you when you move?
  • Does your baby make cooing sounds like “ooo” and “aaa”?
  • Does your baby lift his head and chest when on his tummy?
  • Does your baby play with her hands by touching them together?


    By     7 months old:

  • Does your baby laugh and say “bababa” or “dadada”?
  • Does your baby turn his head and look at you when you talk to him?
  • Does your baby feed herself with her fingers?
  • Does your baby learn about toys by putting them in her mouth? (Make sure toys are too big to swallow)
  • Can your baby stay sitting up by himself?

    • By 10 months old:

  • Does your baby play “peek-a-boo” or wave “bye-bye” after he sees you do it?
  • Does your baby hold something in each hand at the same time?
  • Does your baby pick up small things (like a Cheerio) using her thumb and one finger?
  • Does your baby scoot or crawl across the floor on his tummy?
  • Does your baby pull up to standing and stand by holding onto furniture?

    By 12 months old (1 year old):

  • Does your baby shake her head “no”?
  • Does your baby look at the right things when you say words like “bottle” or “ball”?
  • Does your baby say “Mama” or “Dada” to the right person?
  • Does your baby find a toy when he sees you hide it?
  • Does your baby take steps when holding onto furniture?

    By the time your baby turns one year of age most of the infant developments will be complete and you will be onto the toddler developments. Those are the fun ones, when the baby gets into everything, insists on crying JUST because you got on the phone, and tries to pull you in the bathtub with him. Remember — every child is different. This checklist is intended only as a guideline. If you have questions or concerns about your baby’s development, however, don’t hesitate to talk to his or her caregiver.

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