Lesson 6 of 8

Growing in the uterus

Goal: Explain how the foetus is supported during gestation.

Puzzles for this lesson

A foetus cannot breathe or eat. Everything it needs comes from its mother, through the placenta.

Tap a part, or its name, to find out what it does.

Into the foetus: oxygen and nutrients pass from the mother’s blood to the foetus’s blood.
Out of the foetus: carbon dioxide and other waste pass the other way. The mother’s body gets rid of them.
The two blood supplies do not mix. In the placenta they flow close together, with a thin wall between them.

The placenta, drawn as a diagram. The dotted line is the thin wall between the two blood supplies.

Your turn

This lesson’s activity starts here in a moment.

I can state the jobs of the placenta, umbilical cord and amniotic fluid.I can name two things that pass to the foetus.

This lesson on one page. Tap it to make it bigger.

Uterus The organ where a baby develops, also called the womb

Foetus The developing baby, from about eight weeks until birth

Gestation The nine months when the baby develops in the uterus

Placenta Organ where substances pass between mother and foetus

Umbilical cord Joins the foetus to the placenta

Amniotic fluid The liquid around the foetus that protects it

For teachers: AQA 3.10.2