At 11 weeks pregnant, your baby is about the size of a golf ball, measuring just over 1.5 inches long and weighing roughly 1.6 ounces (about 46 grams). That measurement is taken from the top of the head to the bottom of the rump, since the legs are still curled up tight. It’s a remarkable size jump from just a few weeks earlier, when your baby was closer to a lentil.
What 11 Weeks Looks Like
A golf ball or ping-pong ball is the go-to comparison for this stage, and it’s a good one. Your baby’s head still makes up a large proportion of the total body, roughly half, because the brain is growing at a tremendous pace. Over the next few weeks the body will start to catch up, and proportions will shift toward something more recognizably baby-shaped.
The limbs are lengthening quickly. By week 11 the fingers and toes have separated out, losing the webbing that connected them just a week or two earlier. Tiny nail beds are forming at the tips. Buds for future teeth are also appearing beneath the gums, even though those first teeth won’t push through until months after birth.
What Your Baby Is Doing in There
Despite being barely bigger than a table tennis ball, your baby is surprisingly active at 11 weeks. On an ultrasound you can often see kicking, stretching, somersaults, and hand-waving. These movements are almost constant, but you won’t feel any of them yet. The baby is still too small and cushioned by amniotic fluid for those kicks to register. Most first-time mothers start noticing movement between 18 and 22 weeks.
Development Happening This Week
Size is only part of the story. At 11 weeks, a lot of behind-the-scenes development is underway. The major organs, including the heart, liver, kidneys, and intestines, are all formed and beginning to take on their eventual functions. The heart has been beating since around week 6, and by now it pumps blood through a small but increasingly organized circulatory system. The intestines, which temporarily bulged into the umbilical cord because the abdomen was too small to hold them, are starting to migrate back into the body cavity where they belong.
Facial features are becoming more defined too. The ears are moving toward their final position on the sides of the head, and the nasal passages are open. The irises are developing, though the eyelids are fused shut and will stay that way until well into the second trimester.
Ultrasound and Screening Around This Time
Week 11 falls right at the beginning of the window for a nuchal translucency scan, which is typically done between weeks 11 and 14. This ultrasound measures a small pocket of fluid at the back of your baby’s neck. The measurement, sometimes combined with a blood test, helps estimate the likelihood of certain chromosomal conditions. It’s optional, and your provider will walk you through what the results can and can’t tell you.
If you do have an ultrasound at 11 weeks, it’s often the first time parents get a clear look at a baby that actually looks like a baby, complete with visible arms, legs, and a big round head. Watching the constant flipping and stretching on screen is one of the highlights of early pregnancy for many people.
Changes You Might Notice in Your Body
Your uterus at 11 weeks is about the size of a grapefruit and is still nestled within the pelvis. Most people aren’t showing in an obvious way yet, though you may notice your waistband getting tighter or a subtle fullness in the lower abdomen. By around 12 to 14 weeks the uterus rises above the pelvic bone, and that’s when a visible bump typically starts to appear, especially in first pregnancies.
Common symptoms at this stage include lingering nausea (which often starts to ease over the next couple of weeks), fatigue, and breast tenderness. Some people notice their hair and nails growing faster, a side effect of the increased blood volume and hormonal shifts that come with the first trimester. Energy levels tend to improve noticeably once you cross into the second trimester around week 13 or 14.