Growing Your Body in the Womb - Fun Facts
At one time people thought babies in the womb could not do that much, and could not think or remember before the brain was more developed. This has been proved wrong with many studies and babies can be seen responding to stimuli at very early stages in their development. At various stages they swallow, digest, practice breathing, suck their thumbs, reveal if they are right or left handed and learn their mother and other familiar care givers voices and respond to emotions and different foods.
Before we go into more detail on the development in the womb- here are a couple of fun facts for you
Are you Left or Right Handed?
75% of babies show right handed dominance at 8 weeks with the remainder showing either left handed or no preference. That is pretty early on!
Tails and Gills
Many parts of the growing foetus change and shift as each cell begins to specialise and perform a particular function. Early on the foetus has a tail and gills. But these disappear as the tail becomes the coccyx and the gills become the jaw and ear bones.
Development of the baby in the womb
We followed the babies development up to the blastocyst stage in the lesson on conception. At this stage the bundle of cells has already begun to separate itself into two - one part becoming the baby and the other becoming the placenta. Here we continue the journey and explore some interesting facts about how the baby develops.
Embryonic stage
The small bundle of cells is called an Embryo now - the third week up until the 9th week.
During this time the major organs and structures, including the neural trube which later becomes the brain and spine and the eyes mouth and limbs form. The heart is created and begins to pulse around 5 to 6 weeks. It pulses much faster at this early stage - 160 times a minute. By birth the heart will have beaten already 54 million times! This is also the time many women begin to develop morning sickness.
The Foetus - From week 9 until birth. This next stage - though it is a continuation in reality is called the foetal stage and all the organs mature at different stages and various senses come online- some of them really early on. Let's take a look.
Senses
Touch
Touch receptors develop in the face - especially on the lips and nose by week 8 and connect these sensations to the developing brain. As growth develops more receptors form all over the body and by week 32 every part not has the sensitivity to feel the slightest touch. The growing baby explores himself and his environment through touch and twins can be seen to be interacting with each other often by 14 weeks-
Sight - Eyes - The cells that will become eyes already start to form optic nerves, one on each side of the head which gradually move to the front. By week 8 the retina has begun to form. and by week 16 they can detect light. Although they do not open for the first time until week 27 or 28, the growing baby will respond to bright lights with movement. By week 31 or 32 they can be seen to be opening and focusing on objects.
Hearing - Ears
The inner ear begins to develop by week 5 although they just look like skin folds at this early stage. At 12 weeks the cochlea is developing and by 18 weeks the foetus can hear sounds inside the body like your mother's heart beat. By 23 weeks the hearing has improved and can hear muffled sounds from outside the body - peoples voices or music. By 24 weeks onwards the foetus will respond to their mothers voice with slower movements and a slower heartbeat and can be soothed when there are other noises that are unfamiliar.
There are many studies that show that babies remember and respond to sounds they heard in the womb. In addition you may have heard stories of this in action. One of my friends said she used to be very busy and stressed during her son's pregnancy. But she had one time of day when she relaxed - watching coronation street. Once he was born, any time he was agitated she could play the theme tune and he would instantly relax and go to sleep.
Taste
As early as 8 weeks, the taste buds appear and by 14 weeks are functional and the foetus can taste. The foetus shows reactions from as short a time as 30 minutes from when their mother has eaten food. The amniotic fluid surrounding the baby changes its composition taste and smell depending on what the mother has been eating. And the baby will swallow more of it when it is sweeter.
Smell
Their nose is completely formed by week 12 and their sense of smell develops in the second trimester. Babies learn smells in the womb from the amniotic fluid. By the time they are born they will recognise their mother by smell alone.
Movement and Reflexes
Reflexes are automatic movements in response to stimuli without conscious thought and babies have many that are crucial to their birth and development following birth. These primitive reflexes form survival and protective functions and are designed to fade out as the child develops and other reflexes take over. Their retention can result in many longer term problems even in adults including panic attacks, car sickness, OCD, mood swings, high Blood pressure.
Here are a two of the earliest:
FPR - Fear Paralysis Reflex.
The FPR develops only a few weeks after conception and causes the embryo to freeze under stress. It is usually superseded by the Moro Reflex at about 12 weeks. But if retained beyond birth, you see someone who may have limited tolerance to stress and hyper sensitivity and challenges in attachment.
Moro Reflex
This is an alarm reflex that sees the baby throw its arms and legs wide then bring them in close sometimes with a cry when it encounters a perceived threat. It begins 9 to 12 weeks after conception and disappears 6 months after birth. It can be activated by any of the senses with events such as a loud noise, a sudden light or movement and also triggers the 'fight or flight' response. In ordinary circumstances this state will not last long but whilst it does, all our senses are heightened and we see everything as a potential threat and this is extremely stressful for the system if prolonged. If the Moro reflex is retained then there are many potential problems such as allergies, reactions to foods and medicines, OCD, Emotional regulation issues, separation anxiety and shyness.
Brain , memory and how this all relates to the work we are doing now
Where stuff gets really interesting is where science says that the brain doesn't develop certain synapses until second trimester and yet my experience is that with some other system these memories are all accessible and logged.
There are numerous studies that document and study behaviour in children and track that with stressful events for the mother and numerous stories of people under hynosis who can remember details of events later corroborated by their mother.
I will be talking more about this tomorrow!