Chorevia

Day 153 of 280 · 21 weeks + 6 days

Read a page aloud

Last reviewed · 2 min read · 5 sources · Plain-text version

Twenty-one weeks and six days. Your baby can hear voices from outside the womb now. Tonight, each of you reads one page aloud, about anything at all.

Size this week
about the size of a carrot
Length this week
around 26.7 cm from head to toe
A woman with a small bump in a loose shirt reclining on a bed against pillows while her partner sits beside her reading aloud from a paperback, warm bedside lamp, evening.

Twenty-one weeks and six days. Today's activity takes two minutes and needs no equipment beyond a book, a recipe or the back of a cereal box.

Your baby

One whole orange carrot with the leaves trimmed, on a plain pale wooden board, soft window light.

Around now your baby is around 26.7cm long from head to toe, about the size of a carrot (NHS). They're able to hear sounds and voices outside the womb (NHS). Hearing began a few weeks ago, when the NHS says babies may start to hear your voice, your heartbeat and the sounds of your digestion (NHS).

Your body

This week's NHS list includes backache, round ligament pain, and sore or leaky breasts (NHS). Round ligament pain, an occasional jabbing pain on the sides of the bump (NHS), most often happens between 18 and 24 weeks; moving slowly or changing position may help (MedlinePlus).

For backache, the OWH suggests lying down, resting and applying heat (OWH). MedlinePlus adds two habits: bend your knees, not your waist, to pick things up, and sleep on your side with a pillow between your legs (MedlinePlus). Reading aloud happens to be a good excuse to lie down.

Try today

  1. The read-aloud page

    Time: 2 to 5 minutes

    1. Pick one page of anything: a chapter of the book you're reading, a children's book you loved, a recipe, the news.

    2. Get comfortable on your side, with a pillow between your knees if your back is sore.

    3. Read it aloud at your normal volume, near the bump. No special voice needed.

    4. Swap: your partner reads the next page, sitting close.

    Make it work:

    If you have an older child, let them choose the book and read a page. It's their sibling listening.

Watch for

  • Normal

    a backache that eases when you rest or apply heat (OWH).

    Call your provider

    if the pain doesn't get better (OWH).

  • Normal

    an achy lower back after a long day on your feet.

    Call your provider or go to the hospital

    for a low, dull backache that comes with pelvic pressure, cramps like a period, or contractions every 10 minutes or more often; each is on the NICHD's list of preterm labor signs (NICHD).

  • Normal

    sore breasts, or a little leaking from them (NHS).

    Call your provider

    about any vaginal bleeding; the NHS says to seek advice (NHS).

For you

This isn't a programme, and it won't make your baby clever. Nobody's promising an outcome. It's two minutes of being still with your baby, in a day that doesn't have many of those.

If you're the partner: the baby can hear voices from outside the womb now, and yours is one of them. Read close, and read often. It's also the most ordinary way to end a day together.

The NHS's week 21 checklist suggests inviting your partner to antenatal classes (NHS). This is the same idea, at home: two people, one baby, taking turns.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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