Your Pregnancy Week by Week (Week 6)

6 weeks pregnant

What to expect this week

What's happening in week six

Six weeks in and the changes in your growing baby (and your body) continue big time.

Your baby in week six

If you can imagine a tiny poppy seed, that’s the size of your growing baby's heart now. Around week six their heart is changing from being a simple, single tube to a complex four chamber organ which will pump blood around their body. How amazing! At six weeks the heartbeat of your baby might be detectable by an ultrasound – it’s currently beating at around 160 beats per minute – almost twice as fast as your heart.

Your baby will now be covered by a thin layer of see-through skin, while all your baby's vital organs – the kidneys, lungs and liver – are now in place too, but they still have a lot of developing left to do. The little buds which will eventually become their arms and legs are also starting to grow, while an ultrasound will show up dark spots on where the eyes and nostrils are developing and small depressions where the ears are forming. 

You at six weeks pregnant

You might be feeling a touch 'hormonal' by week six, and your morning sickness, tiredness and general feelings of exhaustion might have really kicked in.  Now is the time to really watch your diet – not only to give you nutritious, energy giving foods, but also to make sure you are avoiding anything that could be harmful to your baby. Check out our diet and health in pregnancy pages for ideas for healthy meals and which foods to give a wide berth at this stage.

Getting lots of fresh air will also be of huge benefit to you and your baby as your pregnancy progresses – our bodies can only produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, so try and get out and about in the sun as much as possible.

Oh, and there's just over seven months left to go!

What to think about in week six

You might be giving off a few signs of pregnancy to other people now, particularly if you are steering clear of the office coffee machine and its overwhelming aromas, or making lots of visits to the bathroom if you are feeling sick or needing to wee a lot (or just for some breathing space if you are feeling mega tired!). Most women wait for their dating scan to share their good news with their friends and colleagues, so you might have to keep up an 'upset tummy' or 'ate something dodgy' line for a while! Could be time to think about how you'll make your exciting announcement though – sharing your scan pic on social media, or just spreading the word via good old fashioned face to face communication?

Week 7