When Does A Baby Grow Feet?

Feet are important — they can get you where you need to go, kick a ball, dance, and run away from salesmen. And baby feet? They're the absolute cutest. But when does a baby grow feet? By the time you have your anatomy scan, your baby might already be playing with their toes, so when did that happen?

I remember joking with my husband that my daughter was going to be a total shoe diva when she was born, because at every ultrasound (and there were many because I went on bed rest), she was either kicking or playing with her feet. Not long after she was born, she was right back at it — her feet were her best friends and favorite afternoon snack. And it turns out I was right; she is a shoe diva. I think she has more shoes than me, even. One of my favorite stories I tell her is how when she was growing in my tummy, she was always playing with her "piggies." It's fascinating how personalities begin to develop before someone's even born.

Turns out, she'd had those piggies for a while. Your baby's feet and toes actually develop after the hands and fingers. It's just mere hours or days difference in the eighth and ninth week of gestation, noted the Mayo Clinic. At this point, the baby resembles a lima bean with limbs and eyes. By 12 weeks, the baby will have fingernails and toenails — and I'm pretty sure this is the exact moment my daughter decided on her first pedicure.

When does a baby grow feet with bones and prints and toe shape? In the third month of pregnancy, baby's skeleton ossifies, turning it to bone, preparing little feet to kick and walk. By the sixth month of pregnancy, that little baby foot print that they give you at the hospital has already developed.

Of course, all of that growing and kicking is just a prelude to the real tap dancing a baby does in your life, but even kicking a hole through your schedule, those feet are pretty cute.