Ultrasound Pictures by Week: What Your Baby Looks Like

This article is general information, not medical advice. Ask your midwife, OB-GYN or sonographer about your own pregnancy and scans.

Ultrasound pictures change more from week to week than almost anything else in pregnancy. Around 6 to 8 weeks you’ll see a small bean-shaped embryo with a flickering heartbeat, usually on a vaginal scan. By 12 weeks there’s a recognizable profile with a large head, and by 20 weeks the baby is too long for one frame, so the pictures show one part at a time: the profile, a foot, the spine. Third-trimester pictures show a fuller face, but often only a section of it.

Here’s what to expect at each stage, how big your baby is, and what kind of picture you’re likely to take home.

Your scans at a glance

Most pregnancies have one or two routine scans; the rest happen only if there’s a reason. ACOG recommends at least one standard exam, usually at 18 to 22 weeks, and notes that some people also have a first-trimester scan. In England, the NHS offers at least two: one at 11 to 14 weeks and one at 18 to 21 weeks.

Sizes are end-of-month estimates from Cleveland Clinic.

6 to 8 weeks: the bean and the flicker

At 6 to 8 weeks, the picture is mostly dark with a small, curled shape inside it. The dark area is fluid in the pregnancy sac, which returns few echoes; the embryo shows as a gray-white bean. MedlinePlus says the heart is beating at a regular rhythm by weeks 6 to 7 and that the heartbeat can be seen on a vaginal ultrasound then. On a still printout, it’s just a dot; on the screen, it flickers.

Early scans are usually done with a vaginal probe. MedlinePlus notes that this is more likely in early pregnancy, and Cleveland Clinic says scans over the belly are used after about 12 weeks. By the end of the second month, Cleveland Clinic puts the embryo at about half an inch to an inch, “about the size of a black bean,” with web-like hands and feet.

Not everyone has a scan this early. When they do, it’s often to confirm the pregnancy, check the dates or look for twins. How much shows depends on the exact dates, so ask your provider to walk you through what they saw.

11 to 14 weeks: the first real profile

The 12-week picture is the one many parents frame, because it’s the first that looks like a baby. MedlinePlus describes the face as well-formed and the head as “very large,” about half of the baby’s size. A good side view shows the forehead, nose bump and chin, a rounded belly, and arms and legs that may be moving on screen.

This is the scan that dates the pregnancy by measuring crown-rump length, and in many places it’s also the nuchal translucency scan. MedlinePlus gives about 9 to 13 weeks for that screening. Our guide to the 12-week scan explains what’s measured and what to ask.

The sex isn’t usually given at this scan. Some sonographers will guess from the angle of the developing genitals, which is the idea behind nub theory.

15 to 17 weeks: the see-through stage

There’s usually no routine scan here, but if you have one, expect bones to stand out. ACOG says that at 13 to 16 weeks the bones harden, especially the long bones, while the skin is still thin and see-through. Hard bone reflects strongly, so it shows bright white, and the face can look skull-like on screen. That’s normal development, not a feature of your baby’s looks.

Elective “gender scans” in this window are offered privately in some places. Read when you can find out the gender before you book one.

18 to 22 weeks: the anatomy scan

At the anatomy scan, the pictures become close-ups. At about 9 to 10 inches, the baby is too long to fit in one frame, so the sonographer checks one area at a time, and your printouts tend to show a profile, a hand, a foot or a section of the spine. ACOG notes that the ears, nose and lips become recognizable on ultrasound around 17 to 20 weeks.

The faces at this stage look lean. Fat only starts forming under the skin at 21 to 24 weeks, so a 20-week face shows its bone structure. This is also the scan where you may learn the sex: ACOG says that “if the fetus is in a good position, it may be possible to tell the sex.” Our full guide to the 20-week anatomy scan covers what’s checked and how to prepare.

Picture tip. If you’d like a profile for your keepsake box, ask near the end of the scan, once the checks are done. The NHS notes that not every hospital provides pictures, and there may be a charge.

24 weeks to birth: a fuller face, less room

Third-trimester pictures show a baby who is filling out. ACOG says the skin begins to look smoother as fat is added at 25 to 28 weeks, eyelids can open and close, and by 29 to 32 weeks the head may have some hair. MedlinePlus lists checking the baby’s growth and position among the reasons for a later scan.

Two things change the pictures:

• Cheeks and lips fill out. A side view looks much more like a newborn than it did at 20 weeks.
• The baby fills the screen. Often only the face, or part of it, fits. The baby may be pressed against the placenta or the wall of the uterus, which can hide features.

Routine scans are less common now, so third-trimester pictures often come from a growth scan or an elective 3D or 4D session. If you’re considering one, our week-by-week guide to the best time for a 3D ultrasound explains why around 26 to 30 weeks is the usual window, along with the FDA’s and AIUM’s advice against scanning only for keepsakes.

Reading and keeping your pictures

Every printout is gray-scale for a reason: bright white is dense tissue such as bone, gray is soft tissue, and black is fluid. The letters around the edge, such as GA, CRL and EDD, are measurements and dates. Our guide on how to read an ultrasound picture decodes each label, and explains why the image can look upside down or mirrored.

Thermal printouts fade over time, so photograph or scan them soon. Our ultrasound keepsake ideas cover ways to keep and display them.

If you’d like to see an imagined face from one of these pictures, SeeMyBaby turns one photo of your scan into an imagined newborn portrait in about a minute. A clear 3D picture with a visible profile gives the closest result, and a 2D scan works too, though the portrait is more imagined. It’s for fun, not a prediction or a medical reading of the scan.

Sources

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Ultrasound Exams and How Your Fetus Grows During Pregnancy
• MedlinePlus: Fetal development and Pregnancy ultrasound
• Cleveland Clinic: Fetal development: stages of growth and Prenatal ultrasound
• NHS: Ultrasound scans in pregnancy

More scan guides are on the SeeMyBaby blog.

Questions parents ask

What does a baby look like at 8 weeks on ultrasound?

A small, curled, bean-shaped embryo inside a dark fluid-filled sac, about half an inch to an inch long by the end of the second month. On the screen you may see the heartbeat flicker.

Can you see the baby’s face at 12 weeks?

You can usually see a profile: forehead, nose and chin. The head is very large compared with the body at this stage, so the picture looks different from a newborn.

Why does my 20-week ultrasound look like a skeleton?

At 20 weeks there’s very little fat under the skin, and bone reflects sound strongly, so it shows bright white. Fat starts forming at 21 to 24 weeks, and faces look rounder after that.

Why are my ultrasound pictures black and white?

Ultrasound builds images from sound echoes, not light. Dense tissue such as bone returns strong echoes and looks white, soft tissue looks gray, and fluid looks black.

Sarina GomezEditor, SeeMyBaby

Sarina Gomez is the pen name of the SeeMyBaby editorial team.

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