Babies begin their lives in the mother’s womb. Before they are born, they are capable of doing amazing things. It’s no secret that while inside mom, they can hear and respond to sounds. But is that all? NO! These little miracles growing inside us can do so much more. We share with you 7 of their special skills.
THEY’RE SMILING
It’s true. The little ones can smile while they’re in the comfort of innocence, under mommy’s heart. Sonography and 4D scanning have proven that babies can smile in the womb. This is possible in the 26th week of pregnancy.
THEY OPEN THEIR EYES
Your baby may open his eyes sometime around 28 weeks. There won’t be much to see where they are, but babies start to react to light in the second trimester. This is because it is possible for bright light to filter through the abdomen. It does not harm the baby, but when it reaches it, it tries to move away from the light, as the researchers found.
HICCUPPING
Babies can have hiccups while they are still in their mother’s womb. Hiccups can already start in the first trimester. Most women do not feel their babies’ hiccups. But if you happen to be among the lucky ones who can feel the baby hiccups, it will happen much later in the pregnancy and as a regular occurrence, especially in the second half of the pregnancy.
THEY FEEL THE TASTE OF FOOD
Did you know that your baby will start to show preferences for certain tastes as early as the 15th week? Although babies may not directly eat or taste the food, the flavors of the food you eat are detected in the amniotic fluid. Whether it’s sharp tastes like garlic or ginger or sweet tastes, the amniotic fluid picks them up and carries them to your baby. This is believed to be nature’s way of exposing the baby to different tastes that it will try once it is born. Babies sense the taste as they swallow the amniotic fluid. They absorb more liquid when it is sweet and less when it is bitter.
THEY CRY
If they can smile, why can’t they cry in the womb? You might not believe it, but it’s true – your baby may be crying inside you even as you read this post. Crying behavior was detected using ultrasound technology. Sometimes researchers have identified a trembling lower lip while the baby is crying.
THEY BREATHE
Your baby gets all the oxygen it needs from the umbilical cord. And so it practices breathing even before it is born, when it is nine weeks old. By then, it starts showing breathing movements. The first breath is triggered by a sudden change in both temperature and the environment outside the mother’s womb. That’s why it’s important to keep the water at body temperature if you’re giving birth in a water pool.
LEAVES URINE
Your baby starts passing urine toward the end of the first trimester. It does this by swallowing and digesting the amniotic fluid, then filtering it through the kidneys and urinating back into the uterus.