Your Nutrients of This Week

During this stage, it is important to continue boosting your diet with some specific nutrients that have been shown to provide unique benefits.Watch what you eat, and do not give up on the balanced nutrition your body needs.

Protein
To get your dose of protein, you can try adding lean beef, chicken, turkey, pork, beans, tofu, and dairy to your diet.

Vitamin A
You can find vitamin A in foods such as citrus fruits, broccoli, bell peppers, strawberries, tomatoes, mangoes, and potatoes with the skin.

Vitamin C
For foods rich in vitamin C, try carrots, winter squash, mangoes, sweet potatoes, leafy greens, lean sources of meat, eggs, dairy, and fortified whole-grain cereals.

Zinc
Wondering where you can get zinc in your diet? Lean beef, whole grains, nuts, legumes, seeds, fortified whole-grain breakfast cereals, peas, lean dairy, and spinach are packed with this nutrient.

Your Wellness Tips This Week

Back pain? Try the pelvic tilt exercise
The pelvic tilt is an exercise that strengthens your stomach muscles. A helpful move for your 17th week of pregnancy and beyond, it might relieve backaches and back pain as well as improve flexibility. Try it for yourself!

• Get down on your hands and knees.
• Tilt your hips forward.
• Pull in your stomach and gently round your back.
• Hold for five seconds.
• Release gently and relax your back and stomach.
• Try keeping your back flat when you are in the release position.
• Repeat several times.

Your Baby's Development at Week 17

Between the 17th week of pregnancy and the 20th week, your baby experiences growth changes.

• Right now, your baby is about 11.5 to 14 cm long, or about the length of a large orange.
• Little hiccups continue and you might feel them!
• When you are around 17 weeks pregnant, a necessary fat called brown fat develops under your baby’s skin. This will help keep her warm after birth. Later in your pregnancy, additional layers of fat develop.
• Air passages in your baby’s lungs finish branching.
• By your 17th week of pregnancy, your baby’s lungs prepare to take in oxygen.

Your Changing Body at Week 17

The good news about the 17th week of pregnancy and beyond is that while your body changes accelerate, early pregnancy symptoms dissipate.

• By your 17th week of pregnancy, your growing placenta reaches one inch in thickness. Your placenta continues to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your baby and to eliminate waste.
• You are gaining about one pound a week between the 16th and 20th weeks of pregnancy.
• When you are around 17 weeks pregnant, your bones, muscles, and joints begin to change to accommodate your growing body.
• You also might experience backaches, cramps, swollen legs and ankles, and varicose veins.

References:
* Comparison among all maternal milk in Singapore as of January 2022, as declared on the label.

SG.2022.23687.SMM.1 (v1.1)