21 Weeks Pregnant: Baby the Size of a Carrot

By week 21 your baby's movements are getting stronger, and they're tasting what you eat through the fluid around them.

Your baby this week

Taste: Taste buds are working, and flavours from your food reach the fluid your baby swallows.
Eyebrows: Eyebrows and eyelids are fully formed.
Movement: Kicks and rolls are stronger and more regular.

Braxton Hicks, practice tightenings that come and go. How to tell them from contractions.
Stretch marks for some. They usually fade with time.
Swollen ankles by evening. Putting your feet up helps.
Feeling hot and sweating more.

Your face, hands or feet swell suddenly, or you have a bad headache or blurred vision
You have bleeding, fluid leaking, or regular tightenings or period-like cramps
Once you know your baby's pattern, their movements slow down or change
You have a fever, or it burns or stings when you pee

Any time of day or night. You will never be a nuisance for calling.

Weeks 24–28

Glucose test window, if your provider offers one.

Week 25 or so

Your next routine checkup. What happens at each visit.

Add your own, then bring the list with you.

Put a hand on the bump when the baby's busy. Some partners start to feel kicks from around now.

Enter your due date once and NUGA knows you're at week 21. The day before each appointment, it gathers what you've noted and the questions to bring.

This page draws on public guidance from:

General information, not medical advice. Every pregnancy is different, and your midwife or doctor knows yours. Last updated October 2026.