Summary
Read the full fact sheet- The unborn baby spends around 38 weeks in the uterus, but the average length of pregnancy, or gestation, is counted at 40 weeks.
- Pregnancy is counted from the first day of the woman’s last period, not the date of conception which generally occurs two weeks later.
- Since some women are unsure of the date of their last menstruation (perhaps due to period irregularities), a baby is considered full term if its birth falls between 37 to 42 weeks of the estimated last menstruation date.
This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:
This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:
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Conversion formula
The conversion factor from weeks to days is 7, which means that 1 week is equal to 7 days:
1 wk = 7 d
To convert 40 weeks into days we have to multiply 40 by the conversion factor in order to get the time amount from weeks to days. We can also form a simple proportion to calculate the result:
1 wk → 7 d
40 wk → T(d)
Solve the above proportion to obtain the time T in days:
T(d) = 40 wk × 7 d
T(d) = 280 d
The final result is:
40 wk → 280 d
We conclude that 40 weeks is equivalent to 280 days:
40 weeks = 280 days
We can also convert by utilizing the inverse value of the conversion factor. In this case 1 day is equal to 0.0035714285714286 × 40 weeks. Another way is saying that 40 weeks is equal to 1 ÷ 0.0035714285714286 days. For practical purposes we can round our final result to an approximate numerical value. We can say that forty weeks is approximately two hundred eighty days: 40 wk ≅ 280 d An alternative is also that one day is approximately zero point zero zero four times forty weeks. For quick reference purposes, below is the conversion table you can use to
convert from weeks to daysAlternative conversion
Approximate result
Conversion table
weeks to days chart
weeks (wk)days (d) 41 weeks
287 days
42 weeks
294 days
43 weeks
301 days
44 weeks
308 days
45 weeks
315 days
46 weeks
322 days
47 weeks
329 days
48 weeks
336 days
49 weeks
343 days
50 weeks
350 days