The Playbook

5 Weeks Pregnant: Early Symptoms and How Dads Can Help

By the Guide to Fatherhood editorial team. Last reviewed . 2 min read.

Checked against guidance from organizations like the AAP, CDC, ACOG and NHS (linked below). This is general information, not medical advice. Read our medical disclaimer.

Trimester1
Sizea sesame seed
Lengthabout 2 mm

The neural tube, which becomes the brain and spinal cord, is forming, and the heart is beginning to develop as a simple tube.

Your to-do list this week

  • Build a snack stash: plain crackers, pretzels, ginger chews, cold water. Put one by the bed and one in her bag.
  • Take over cooking, or at least anything that smells strong. Open windows, cook outside, eat the garlic at lunch.
  • Learn the warning signs: heavy bleeding, severe abdominal pain, or vomiting so much she can't keep fluids down all mean calling her provider.
  • Let her nap without commentary, and pick up the slack around the house.
A conversation to have this week

"What smells or foods should I stop bringing home?" Then actually stop. It's the most romantic thing you'll do this month.

The baby this week

About the size of a sesame seed, the embryo is busy laying down its most important structures. The neural tube, which will become the brain and spinal cord, is forming, and the heart starts out as a simple tube (Mayo Clinic; NHS). This early timing is exactly why folic acid before and in early pregnancy matters so much.

How she may be feeling

Pregnancy hormones are rising fast. Common symptoms include deep fatigue, sore breasts, frequent urination, mood swings, and the start of nausea. According to ACOG, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy is very common and usually begins before 9 weeks. It is called “morning sickness,” but it can last all day.

The dad’s nausea playbook

You can’t take the nausea for her, but you can change the environment around it.

  • Food on demand. An empty stomach often makes nausea worse. Small, plain snacks every couple of hours help many people. Keep crackers by the bed for before she gets up.
  • Kill the smells. Cooking odors, coffee, your cologne, the trash can. Take the trash out early. Cook with windows open.
  • Fluids. Cold water, ice chips, flavored seltzer: whatever stays down.
  • Ask about remedies. Ginger and vitamin B6 help some people; ACOG notes there are also safe prescription options. She should ask her provider before starting anything.
  • Don’t keep score. If she’s on the couch at 7 p.m., the dishes are yours.

Know when to call

Most nausea is miserable but harmless. Call her provider if she can’t keep fluids down for a day, is losing weight, feels faint, or has very dark urine. Also call for heavy bleeding or severe abdominal pain. Writing the practice’s after-hours number into your phone this week is a two-minute job that you’ll be glad you did.

Frequently asked questions

When does morning sickness start?

Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy commonly starts before 9 weeks, often around weeks 5 to 6, and for many people improves by the start of the second trimester. Despite the name, it can happen at any time of day.

When should we worry about morning sickness?

Call her provider if she can't keep down liquids or food, is losing weight, feels dizzy or faint, or has dark urine. Severe nausea and vomiting (hyperemesis gravidarum) needs treatment and is not something to tough out.

Sources

  1. Week 5: Your baby and your body, NHS
  2. Morning Sickness: Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
  3. Fetal development: The first trimester, Mayo Clinic

We link to the original source for every medical and safety claim. Guidance changes; if a source has been updated since our last review, the source wins. How we research.