Title: Fetal Brain Development Stages: When Does a Fetus Develop a Brain?
Headings: Fetal Brain Development Stages: When Does a Fetus Develop a Brain?
Fetal Brain Development Stages: When Does a Fetus Develop a Brain?
When does a fetus develop a nervous system?
When does a fetus develop a brain?
Stages of prenatal brain development
The first trimester
The second trimester
The third trimester
The parts of a baby’s brain
How to support your baby’s brain development
What can harm fetal brain development?

Content: Ultrasounds can reveal the embryo moving as early as 6 weeks after conception (or 8 pregnancy weeks), detecting the electrical impulses that govern movement and indicating that the brain is beginning to function. The first trimester
During the first trimester, the brain develops rapidly and makes up nearly half of the fetus’s weight. For comparison, by the time your baby is born, the brain is only 10 percent of their body weight. In the first trimester, the brain will grow millions of neurons, which connect across synapses to direct movement and growth. The communication between neurons is what helps the fetus learn to move, although during the first trimester you probably won’t feel any movement. The second trimester
In the second trimester, the fetal brain begins to direct the compression of the chest muscles and movement of the diaphragm. These are kind of like practice breaths and are controlled by the brain stem. Sucking and swallowing begin around week 16, and by week 21, the fetus can swallow amniotic fluid. During the second trimester, the fetus is still testing out movements, kicking and stretching. At some point between week 16 and week 20, the fetus should be large enough that you can feel the baby kick.