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Charlotte Lozier Institute

Phone: 202-223-8073
Fax: 571-312-0544

2776 S. Arlington Mill Dr.
#803
Arlington, VA 22206

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Charlotte Lozier Institute

Phone: 202-223-8073
Fax: 571-312-0544

2776 S. Arlington Mill Dr.
#803
Arlington, VA 22206

The
Voyage of Life
Preparing for Pregnancy
Week 0 to 1
Week 1 to 2
Week 2 to 3
Week 3 to 4
Week 4 to 5
Week 5 to 6
Week 6 to 7
Week 7 to 8
Week 8 to 9
Week 9 to 10
Week 10 to 11
Week 11 to 12
Weeks 13 & 14
Weeks 15 & 16
Weeks 17 & 18
Weeks 19 & 20
Month 6 to 7
Month 7 to 8
Month 8 to 9
Month 9 to Birth

Week 6 to 7

Brain activity and spontaneous movements

Human Prenatal Age
  • PCW 7
    i
    Post-Conception Week
  • Days 42-48
  • Gestational Week 9
Highlights

  • The embryo’s heart has formed all four chambers.1 

  • The embryo’s heart rate peaks in the seventh week after conception around 170 beats per minute, making the heartbeat almost twice as fast as mom’s.2

  • Pockets of cells that resemble taste buds appear on the tongue.3

  • Eyelids form.4 

  • Knees and elbows appear.

  • Toes start to form, and the tissue between the fingers becomes thin.5 

This week, the cortex, or the thinking and sensing part of the brain, doubles in size.6

Brain cells, called neurons, have already connected to one another. Networks of neurons produce immature patterns of brain activity, or “brain waves,” that have been recorded as early as 6 ½ weeks after conception.7 The preborn baby starts spontaneously moving his arms, hands, and legs.8 Ultrasound recordings also show that the embryo can hiccup.9

Cartilage starts to harden and become bone in the seventh week. The first bones to form in the embryo are the collar bone and the jaws.10

The first several weeks of eye development are like watching an orchestra warm up. Different cells and tissues develop simultaneously and quickly as they prepare to work together to create a functional eye. The eye begins to develop 17 days after conception.11 Out of the ectoderm and mesoderm, the cornea and lens form. Simultaneously, the back of the eye grows like a cord out from the young brain. By six weeks after conception, the lens can be easily seen, as can the iris and the critical neural connection between the eye and the back of the brain. This week, muscles that move the eyes around continue growing and the eyelids begin forming.12

Sagittal section of eye of human embryo of six weeks. (Image Credit: Henry Vandyke Carter, 1918, Public Domain)
Dive Deeper
Brain Activity in the Unborn
The earliest brain activity was recorded from a 45-day-old embryo...
Read More
Ear Formation
About six weeks after conception, the outer ear starts as a groove on the neck...
Read More
Fetal EEGs: Signals from the Dawn of Life
How could a baby the size of a grape produce enough electrical activity to be detected?
Read More
Back to The Voyage of Life
Sources
  1. Moore, Keith L, TVN Persaud, and Mark G. Torchia. The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology. 10th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2016.
  2. M. van Heeswijk, J. G. Nijhuis, and H. M. Hollanders, “Fetal Heart Rate in Early Pregnancy,” Early Human Development 22, no. 3 (June 1990): 151–56, https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-3782(90)90181-h.
  3. R. M. Bradley and I. B. Stern, “The Development of the Human Taste Bud during the Foetal Period.,” Journal of Anatomy 101, no. Pt 4 (September 1967): 743–52.
  4. Moore, Keith L, TVN Persaud, and Mark G. Torchia. The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology. 10th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2016.
  5. Moore, Keith L, TVN Persaud, and Mark G. Torchia. The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology. 10th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2016.
  6. M. Marin-Padilla, “Structural Organization of the Human Cerebral Cortex Prior to the Appearance of the Cortical Plate.,” Anatomy and Embryology 168, no. 1 (1983): 21–40, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00305396.
  7. Winslow J. Borkowski and Richard L. Bernstine, “Electroencephalography of the Fetus,” Neurology 5, no. 5 (May 1, 1955): 362, https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.5.5.362.
  8. de Vries, J. I. P. de, G. H. A. Visser, and H. F. R. Prechtl. 'The Emergence of Fetal Behaviour. I. Qualitative Aspects.' Early Human Development 7, no. 4 (December 30, 1982): 301–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-3782(82)90033-0.
  9. de Vries, J. I. P. de, G. H. A. Visser, and H. F. R. Prechtl. 'The Emergence of Fetal Behaviour. I. Qualitative Aspects.' Early Human Development 7, no. 4 (December 30, 1982): 301–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-3782(82)90033-0.
  10. Moore, Persaud, and Torchia, The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, 2016.
  11. Moore, Persaud, and Torchia, The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, 2016.
  12. Moore, Persaud, and Torchia, The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, 2016.
See Full Bibliography

All images and illustrations on The Voyage of Life were reviewed by credentialed scientists for accuracy.

Medical art animation was used to provide a schematic representation of fetal development, with some features, including timing, not to scale. The animation was chosen as an ethically uncompromised guide to fetal development. There are many real human images at each developmental age showing the most accurate fetal forms throughout development. A concerted effort was made to use images and material in which the human embryo or fetus did not undergo any known harm.

Page last updated on January 17, 2023