You are 7 weeks and 4 days

Your baby's facial features are starting to develop and will become much more defined over the next few weeks.

227 days until your due date

Your baby has ears! They form low down near the jawline, each from six small mounds that fuse together to give your baby a unique ear shape. As the face and jaw form and the neck lengthens away from the chest, the ears move upward, reaching eye level by 11 weeks.

The lips and nose are taking shape. The upper lip forms from two ridges of tissue growing in from each side of the face, which fuse with a small piece of tissue in the middle below the nose (the grooved part of the upper lip).

Around now, the small and large bowel lengthen. There isn't enough room inside the curled-up embryo, so the intestines bulge out through the abdominal wall into a membrane-covered sac where the umbilical cord attaches. The bowel keeps growing there until 11–12 weeks, when it moves back into the abdomen, leaving just the cord attachment.

Focus on

Safety: Cooking with care

Careful food hygiene matters in pregnancy. Your immune system is under extra pressure, making you more prone to food poisoning, and food-borne illnesses can affect your baby's health. So:

Wash your hands carefully and often with hot water and soap, and dry them completely before preparing food, because bacteria spread more easily on damp skin.
Keep food in the fridge until you're ready to prepare it, and cook it thoroughly.
Serve food piping hot, because germs multiply in lukewarm food.
Refrigerate leftovers straight away and reheat them thoroughly, only once.
Clean your hands, utensils, and work surfaces thoroughly.
Set your fridge and freezer to the correct temperature.

Explainer

Prepare with care

Make time to prepare food properly, wash all fruit and vegetables, and keep raw foods away from cooked foods.

As a matter of fact

Apples and asthma

One study found that eating apples in pregnancy could lower your child's risk of asthma.

A Mediterranean diet may do the same. Babies of mothers who ate plenty of fish, olive oil, fruit, and vegetables were up to 30 percent less likely to wheeze and 50 percent less likely to develop skin allergies.

This is general information based on NHS guidance, not medical advice, and every pregnancy is different. Talk to your midwife or GP about anything that worries you. If your baby's movements slow down or change, or you have bleeding, severe pain or leaking fluid, call your maternity unit straight away. In an emergency, call 999.