baby steps

May 29, 2006 7:48 PM

My wife is pregnant with baby number 4. As a way to get our other kids interested and involved, she would like to print out approximate week-by-week sizes of the baby's feet and hands. Has anyone seen this online, or (second choice) in a book?
posted by Jesco to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Neat idea. This doesn't exactly answer your question, but we used "A Child Is Born" with #1 child while expecting #2. We followed along week by week, until she skipped ahead to the (illustrated) chapter on labor and decided she didn't want to have much else to do with the process.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:59 PM on May 29, 2006

Haven't seen it... but if you're looking for something like this then its likely others are too. Seems like a marker, paper, scanner and photoshop (and of course, one newborn baby) would be all you'd need to put together something that. It might be worth doing, and if you're unable to find it for yourself then involving the older kids in creating this educational tool might be valuable any way.
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:00 PM on May 29, 2006

Confused - do you want hand/foot sizes in utero, or after birth?
posted by aberrant at 8:58 PM on May 29, 2006

An interesting question -- I bet you could make some money if you developed such a book.

I did find this -- Average fetal length and weight chart. Maybe you could do full-body paper dolls?
posted by Methylviolet at 10:07 PM on May 29, 2006

I fondly remember remember pouring over A Child is Born with my parents when my little brother was in utero. The photos are amazing. On the size issue; I haven't seen anything with the images you've requested, but one of my friends had a pregnancy book (perhaps What to Expect When You're Expecting) that equated the size of the fetus to a fruit or nut, which would seem an easy concept for even young kids to grasp. If I remember correctly, each week had a new size (peanut to walnut to fig to lime to lemon to appple and on up to watermellon). If you're interested, I'll call my friend and confirm the title of the book. Congratulations on the new addition to your family!
posted by kayzie at 3:40 AM on May 30, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for the great ideas.

To clarify, I'd like the hand/foot sizes in utero. She's currently 28 weeks.
posted by Jesco at 4:25 AM on May 30, 2006

So, this is at best an answer to a question similar to yours.

I was struck by the idea that you could accomplish the same goal by using food that is the same size as the baby each week. You could even include the food in a weekly meal. For example, this week (the 28th of the pregnancy) you could have some papaya. Bigger ones weigh 2.2 lbs. on average.
posted by oddman at 5:46 AM on May 30, 2006

I had this illustration sequence. I think it was in The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger. I have it at home and will check this evening. I loved seeing the (average) size of the baby.
posted by theora55 at 12:30 PM on May 30, 2006