Not yet in your arms, but already quite active, baby is developing fascinating skills and behaviors in your womb. Thanks to ultrasound scans and numerous studies of fetal development, we now know much more about what your baby is experiencing, feeling and experiencing before birth.
CONTENTS :
- Suction training for bottle feeding
- He may already be dreaming (about whom, what?)
- Your child responds to your voice and to music too
- It also reacts to light (cuckoo!).
- Those little fetal hiccups you feel so well
- He tastes what you eat (the beginning of sharing without counting)
- Baby's breathing in your belly is not what you imagine it to be
- He grimaces (and it's not just a coincidence)
- What if baby was already crying in utero?
- He explores (with hands and feet)
Suction training for bottle feeding
Between 12 and 14 weeks of pregnancy, babies start to bring their hands up to their mouths to suck their thumbs or fingers. This is often one of the first moments of amazement for parents who discover baby in this tender, familiar position during the first ultrasound scan.
A gesture of astonishing precision, which may have a number of functions: helping to develop hand-mouth coordination, preparing the muscles for post-natal sucking and perhaps also providing a soothing effect. However, this emotional and psychological dimension has yet to be fully demonstrated.
In any case, sucking is a way for baby to familiarize himself with his body and learn to feed himself, whether by bottle or breast.
🩷 Baby can suck his thumb as early as 12 weeks of pregnancy.
By the way, did you know that Élhée has developed a birth bottle that is accepted by the vast majority of babies? Made from healthy medical-grade silicone, this soft, healthy bottle can be fed from the very first day of life.
He may already be dreaming (about whom, what?)
Before long, baby's sleep/wake cycle is out of sync with yours. His activity peaks between 9 p.m. and midnight, just when you're dreaming of a good night's sleep (could this be to prepare you for the months ahead?).
As early as the 7th month of pregnancy, his nights include REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phases, characteristic of REM sleep, the sleep of dreams. And even if it's difficult, if not impossible, to say that he's really dreaming, these phases suggest, at the very least, intense cerebral activity, conducive to the processing of sensations and emotions perceived in utero.
🩷 The fetus is already experiencing REM sleep, which is conducive to dreaming.
Your child responds to your voice and to music too
Hearing begins to develop as early as the 16th week of pregnancy. By 23 weeks, baby recognizes the most familiar voices, such as those of his parents. You may have noticed: when you talk to him, baby reacts! Moreover, he seems to have a preference for his mother's voice and melodious or classical music.
Dads-to-be, don't be sad; it's just that, for almost as long as you can remember, your child has been picking up maternal sounds, her heartbeat, her breathing, her digestion... and, of course, the melody of her words at every moment. What could be more reassuring?
🩷 At the end of the second trimester of pregnancy, your child hears you in utero.
It also reacts to light (cuckoo!).
Only a little later, at 28 weeks (the beginning of the 7th month of pregnancy), your baby literally develops superpowers, as it is now able to perceive light through the uterine wall.
Of course, it has to be bright, but still: what a feat! You can try pointing a light source at your belly to observe your baby's possible reactions and create a unique moment of connection.
🩷 During the third trimester, baby perceives certain flashes of light through your belly.
Those little hiccups you feel so well
From the second trimester onwards, you can feel baby hiccupping in your belly, and yet he's not inhaling air! This very common phenomenon, much appreciated by mothers, is generally linked to the maturation of the diaphragm or the swallowing of amniotic fluid.
As explained in a study published in ScienDirect, fetal hiccups are a sign of normal baby development that can be felt by the mother as small, rhythmic shakes.
🩷 Before he's born, baby can already have hiccups!
He tastes what you eat (the beginning of sharing without counting)
Very early on, around 13 weeks of pregnancy, babies perceive their first tastes. In fact, the amniotic fluid in which they bathe changes flavor according to what you eat.
Themother-to-be's diet definitelyinfluences her baby's preferences after birth. A good place to start if you're looking for a particularly early start to your baby's diet!
🩷 Taste doesn't wait. Baby can perceive it at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy.
Baby's breathing in your belly is not what you imagine it to be
At the end of pregnancy, during the third trimester, your baby starts to make real breathing movements, like yours, but without air. He inhales and exhales from amniotic fluid, familiarizing his body with the exercise and strengthening the muscles and lungs that will soon be needed.
🩷 Baby "breathes" amniotic fluid. It's stronger than apnea!
He grimaces (not coincidentally)
If the morphological ultrasound takes place between the 21st and 24th week of amenorrhea, it's around the same time that baby starts to work on his best profile! Not that he's trying to pose for the 3D ultrasound, but rather to train his facial muscles for later.
🩷 A fetus is quickly able to move its facial muscles.
What if baby was already crying in utero?
At around 28 weeks, baby is capable of a "complex behavioral response". Observations by the Department of Psychology at Princeton University in the USA have highlighted some of the typical crying signals that baby expresses from the moment of birth, but silently:the mouth opening, the chin quivering and the irregular breathing.
🩷 Hard to know if they're expressing discomfort, but your child is already miming crying in your belly.
He explores (with hands and feet)
Very early in pregnancy, baby begins to move in your belly. At first, his movements are tenuous, but as his muscles develop and you run out of room in your belly, he starts to move more and more strongly.
Then, with his hands, baby touches his face, his umbilical cord, your uterine wall... And around 20 weeks, begins to explore his environment intentionally.
🩷 By the middle of the second trimester, baby is voluntarily exploring your belly.
Baby, in your womb, is acquiring fascinating and complex behaviors and skills. Every movement, every reaction, every development is a crucial step in preparing him for life outside the womb. Whether captured during ultrasound scans or experienced by parents, they create precious and unique memories. If you'd like to delve deeper into the subject, here are a few additional resources:
- Fetal sensory development: a medical article published by Dr. Marie-Claude Busnel
- The Contribution of Prenatal Psychology to Our Understanding about Prenatal Dynamics and Fetal Behaviour, a study published in the Journal of Psychology Research
- Websites: Brain Research Foundation
call-to-action-collections
