Pregnancy & Childbirth
If you are pregnant, please enter your expected due date to find out approximately how many heartbeats your baby has experienced so far. Or, enter any birth date or age (in years) to estimate how many heartbeats a child or adult has experienced. (No data is collected from this page.)
Did you know that a full-term baby’s heart beats approximately 54 million times before birth?
The heart first appears about 20 days after fertilization. Once it begins to beat 22 days after fertilization, it does not rest except during the brief moment of relaxation between contractions. During an 80-year lifetime, the heart will beat more than 3 billion times!
Click a thumbnail to play video
6-7 months
Intestinal lining contains all adult cell types. The ability to taste is present. Additional fat deposits decrease wrinkles. Tear production begins. The ability to smell has arrived. The brain weight increases 400-500%.
7-8 months
Breathing motions are common, even though there is no air in the womb. Memory starts with preference to music. Prenatal food affects newborn taste.
8-9 months
Rapid weight gain. Firm hand grasp is noticed. Amniotic fluid volume peaks.
9-birth
Fetus drinks an estimated 15oz of amniotic fluid per day. Major circulatory changes. Spinal cord ends at third lumbar vertebrae. Fetus initiates labor by releasing large amounts of estrogen, creating powerful contractions of the uterus that result in childbirth.
Images and video courtesy of The Endowment for Human Development
