Research-backed
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Congratulations, you’re pregnant! Feels good to hear these words, isn’t it? After a number of hit-or-miss attempts, test strip disappointments followed by those pep talks to start all over again, it definitely is worth the wait when your pregnancy test is finally confirmed positive. And your excitement is quite palpable when you scamper to learn more about that little life taking form inside you. Can he/she smile or cry? Is it too dark inside for the baby? How does the little one while away his/her time inside? A few years back, answering such curious questions might have seemed impossible. However, with the advent of technology like 3D ultrasound images, it is now possible to study the fetal activity inside the womb in greater detail. Here, we bring you few such crazy things babies do in the womb that were discovered thanks to technology:
1. Yes, They Do Cry!
And you thought that babies cried for the first time when they arrived into the world? Don’t worry, most of us did too. According to research, babies express their displeasure inside the womb as early as the 28th week. An open mouth, depressed tongue, letting out of single short breaths, and sometimes even a quivering chin, all of which are associated with crying (1).
2. Yawning In The Womb
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No, your baby is not bored inside! A recent research suggests that babies yawn inside the womb. However, researchers believe that, unlike adults who yawn due to sleepiness or boredom, the yawns of these little ones may be linked to brain development (2).
3. They Can Get Startled
How often have you noticed that your baby tends to give you a real, hard kick when you expose him/her to sudden sounds? Babies are generally accustomed to hearing muffled sounds. So, when you subject them to sudden, loud sounds like the jarring mixer or a blaring horn of a vehicle, they are bound to get startled. Hence the hard kick (3).
4. Respond To Your Voice
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Your baby begins to hear as early as Week 18. However, by Week 25, your baby’s hearing would have become sharp enough to recognize and respond to familiar voices, especially that of the mother. And, babies respond to their mother’s voice with movements (4).
5. Sucks Thumb
Most of us would like to believe that babies learn to suck only when breastfeeding is initiated. But, this is a craft that they learn pretty early in the womb, by Week 21! This is when the sucking reflex develops and fetuses start sucking thumbs (5)!
6. Can Taste The Flavors Of The Food
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The old belief that a baby is what the mother eats holds true. The flavors of whatever a mother eats are transferred to the amniotic fluid which in turn is ingested by the fetus. Thereby, the fetus is able to taste the flavors of the food inside the womb (6).
7. Starts To Practice Breathing
Fetal breathing is a clinical fact. By Week 26, your baby’s lungs develop fully although your baby will continue to breathe through the placenta. But, the lungs start producing the surfactant that helps them to inflate and deflate without collapsing (7).
8. They Can Blink Their Eyes
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By Week 16, your baby’s eyes develop and start slow movements. This is when the baby can blink his/her eyes inside the womb (8).
9. They Get Hiccups
After Week 23, you might start feeling jerking movements in spurts. This is because your baby starts hiccuping. These hiccups actually help your baby’s diaphragm to expand (9).
We hope this list of things give you an insight into what your little baby is up to inside you while you are anxiously awaiting his/her arrival. There might be a lot more things than these that babies may do inside the little bag of fluid. Things which may be hitherto unknown to us. But what we do know is that these naughty little angels are anything but bored inside. So, while a mother gets nervous with each passing day waiting for the D-Day to arrive, let the baby enjoy a few more somersaults!
