Baby: a bit of heaven sent down on earth. Rightly said this, babies are like an antidepressant. It is hard to be in the bad mood when you are around them. Their cute gestures, diverting naughty actions, and the magnificent smile can make you forget all your worries and sorrows.
The development of a baby in the womb starts with the beginning of heartbeat, typically between 105 and 120 times beats per minute. Yes, even more than an adult beat rate. The permanent kidneys appear by just after 5 weeks of implantation. At the end of 6½ weeks of the 9 months period, the embryo begins moving both hands. The fingers also start to separate.
By 4-5 months, when the fetus is exposed to loud noises, heart rate increases. The fetus responds to hot and cold, movement, pressure, pain, taste, and light. Researchers tested how fetus responds to specific stimuli preferably a very low sound that makes a vibration. When the fetus receives the stimulation initially, it is startled. After the repeated trials of similar stimulation, the fetus starts to detect the same vibration and stop reacting. This shows that the fetus is now habituated to the simulation or get used to habituation. Habituation is the form of learning and memory.
The embryo has brain waves after 6 weeks and individualized brain waves are recorded via EEG.
The brain is highly developed by 8 weeks and makes up approximately 43 percent of the embryo’s total weight.
Studies show that – “A normal fetus, of about 30 or 32 or 34 weeks, would stop responding after 13 or 14 stimuli.” which depicts that the fetus has memorized the stimuli and has become used to it.
30-week-old fetuses are found to have a “memory” of near about 10 minutes. The fetus can now smile and produce facial expression. Nails also begin to emerge and as do fingerprints. The sense of smell starts functioning from now on and eyes produce tears.
The fetus will also start to respond to a growing medley of sounds. Increasingly sensitive to different sound frequencies, the fetus is now able to hear many new noises with greater accuracy. The brain growth consumes 50 percent of the energy used by the fetus.
“The fetus hears numerous sounds before birth, with the mother’s voice and heartbeat dominating other sounds.” The newborn prefers to hear mother’s voice more often than to any other after months of hearing mother’s voice and therefore prefers female voices to male voices after birth.
The journey of development of the baby in womb
The fetus shows some movement and is frightened when exposed to repeated sounds but then gets used to the sound in what scientists say is a form of learning and memory. “When the sound was stopped, then repeated 4 weeks later in the tests, the fetuses were found to have remembered it.
After 30 weeks in the womb, short term memory may be present in fetuses. You may remember those days in the womb. Do you?
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