Your week 24 guide

Eyelashes, eyebrows and hair are now visible. The hair is fine and often lacks pigment at this stage, so its eventual colour is not yet apparent. These details complete a face that has been assembling gradually since the seventh week.

Weight gain now increasingly includes fat as well as muscle, bone and organ growth. Fat under the skin smooths out the wrinkled appearance and, more importantly, will help your baby maintain body temperature after birth. The lungs are also producing surfactant, the substance that stops the air sacs collapsing between breaths, which is one of the main reasons late-pregnancy weeks matter so much.

Your baby still has room to change position frequently. Head-down, breech and transverse positions are all common and unremarkable at twenty-four weeks. Position only becomes relevant to birth planning well into the third trimester.

Tingling in the hands or wrists, swelling, itchy skin and changes in vision may occur. Wrist tingling is usually carpal tunnel syndrome caused by fluid retention pressing on the nerve, and a wrist splint at night often helps considerably. Contact your maternity team immediately about new blurred vision, flashing lights, spots or other changes in vision, even if you have no headache or swelling. Do not assume a new visual symptom is simply hormonal or wait for your next appointment.

Colostrum may begin leaking from your breasts. This thick, yellowish first milk is already being produced, and leaking now says nothing about how breastfeeding will go later. Breast pads inside your bra deal with it and there is nothing to treat.

Constipation and heartburn can remain persistent. Both are driven by hormones and mechanical pressure and rarely resolve completely before birth, which is frustrating but not dangerous. There are safe treatments for both, and there is no need to simply endure them.

Start talking about birth preferences with your care team and whoever will be with you. Doing this early gives you time to ask questions and change your mind, and it is a conversation rather than a document. Understanding what pain relief is available where you are giving birth is often the most useful starting point.

Complete glucose screening if it has been recommended. The test usually involves a sugary drink and blood samples over a couple of hours, and gestational diabetes frequently causes no symptoms at all, which is precisely why screening exists. If it is diagnosed, it is manageable, and most women control it through diet and monitoring.

Ask before using massage, medicines, eye drops or supplements. Plenty of everyday products are not recommended in pregnancy, including some anti-inflammatory painkillers and certain herbal preparations. A pharmacist can check the specific product in a couple of minutes. InshaAllah, a quick check with the pharmacist can make the product choices clearer.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D helps your body use calcium and supports bone health. Only a limited number of foods naturally contain meaningful amounts.

Food sources include eggs, suitable oily fish and fortified foods. Supplement recommendations vary by country. Women who cover most of their skin, spend little time outdoors, or have darker skin may need particular attention to vitamin D, so ask for individual advice rather than assuming a general recommendation fits you.