5 Months Pregnant: First Movements and the Anomaly Scan

You are sitting still, and suddenly something moves under your hand. A bubble, a little flutter, then nothing. Was that the baby? At 5 months pregnant, the answer is often yes. This is the month of first encounters: you feel your baby, and you see it in detail on the scan.

Here is what is happening to your baby, what you may feel, and the appointments not to miss.

How many weeks is 5 months pregnant?

The fifth month runs from 19 weeks and 3 days to 23 weeks and 5 days, which is roughly 17 to 22 weeks after conception. You are in the middle of the second trimester, halfway through your pregnancy.

These weeks are counted from the first day of your last period (written "SA", weeks of amenorrhoea, on Moroccan and French paperwork). To pin down your due date and convert weeks into months, keep our pregnancy week calculator to hand.

What is happening to your baby in the fifth month?

Your baby is measured differently: from 20 weeks, it is measured from head to heel rather than from head to bottom. According to the UK's NHS:

Its skin is covered with a white, greasy coating, vernix, which protects it and will help the baby slide out at birth. The NHS states that a baby is considered viable from 24 weeks: in the event of a very premature birth, every week gained counts. The week-by-week milestones are in our pregnancy week by week.

When do you feel your baby move?

Usually between 18 and 24 weeks, according to the NHS. The first sensations feel like bubbles, a butterfly, a rolling movement. You are more likely to notice them when resting, after a meal, or when you talk to your baby while stroking your bump. With a first baby, they often come later.

Little by little, the movements turn into clear kicks. The NHS advises getting to know their usual pattern, and telling your midwife or doctor if the kicks slow down. Everything you need to know is in our article feeling your baby move, week by week.

Symptoms in the fifth month of pregnancy

• Calf cramps, especially at night. Massage the muscle or pull your toes towards you; moving during the day helps prevent them, the NHS explains.
• Heartburn and bloating: your baby is taking up room.
• Breathlessness and pain under the ribs, as your ribcage widens.
• Colostrum that may leak from your breasts around 23 weeks.
• Tiredness, sensitive gums, nosebleeds, brown patches on the face, stretch marks.

If acid reflux is keeping you awake, our advice to ease the minor ailments of pregnancy will help.

The anomaly scan: this month's key appointment

This is the second-trimester scan, between 18 weeks and 21 weeks and 6 days in the UK, and during the 5th month in France. The sonographer checks your baby's organs one by one, its growth and the position of the placenta.

The sex can often be seen at this scan, if the baby's position allows and if you want to know: read boy or girl, how to find out. The details of the scan are in our article on pregnancy scans.

The WHO plans an antenatal contact at around 20 weeks and recommends at least one ultrasound scan before 24 weeks. In Morocco, since October 2026 the Ministry of Health has been extending an AI-assisted ultrasound programme to 50 health centres in the Béni Mellal-Khénifra region, where pregnant women previously travelled an average of 90 km for a scan, according to EcoActu.

Another point to raise this month: the whooping cough vaccine. The NHS usually offers it around 20 weeks (possible from 16 to 32 weeks), because the mother's antibodies pass to the baby and protect it until it gets its own vaccines. What is available in Morocco is something to discuss with your gynaecologist; see our overview of vaccines in pregnancy.

Good habits in the fifth month

Sleep on your side, with a pillow between your knees: your hips and back will thank you. A long, sausage-shaped pregnancy and nursing pillow slips under your bump and between your legs, and will be used again for feeds.

Think ahead too: look for a midwife or an antenatal class and, if you have not done so yet, choose your maternity unit.

From the shop

To ease your back and nights in the second trimester

Your bump takes up room and nights get harder: a well-chosen pregnancy pillow supports your back and bump, then helps with breastfeeding. Several shapes and prices.

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• The whole aisle · Pregnancy and nursing pillows20 products online, delivered anywhere in Morocco.Open the aisle

Products sold by La Maison du Bébé, publisher of this magazine. Prices as of 12 October 2026; please check the product page.