Babies laugh and cry in womb
September 16th, 2011 - 4:25 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Sep 16 (IANS) Babies in the womb develop a range of facial movements which can be identified as laughing and crying, research shows.
Study author Nadja Reissland from Durham University said: “We have found so much more than we expected. We knew that the baby blinks before birth and that some research has identified scowling before birth.”
The research group examined video-taped feotal facial movements obtained by ultrasound machines in the later stages of pregnancy, according to a Durham statement.
They recorded the same foetuses after they had been found to be healthy at their 20 week scan, several times between 24 and 36 weeks of gestation. They found that facial movements become more complex over time.
Foetuses in the first stage of observation (24 weeks) were able to move one muscle in their face at a time. They would for example stretch their lips or open their mouth.
By 35 weeks, foetuses combined a number of facial muscle movements, combining for example lip stretch, lowering of the eyebrows, turning isolated movements into recognisable and increasingly complex expressions.
Professor Brian Francis, study author and mathematician at Lancaster University, said: “This research has for the first time demonstrated that in healthy foetuses there is a developmental progression from simple to complex facial movements.”
The development of facial expressions means that at birth the baby has already developed the facial movements to accompany crying and laughing.
- 17 week foetus breaks into big smile - Oct 11, 2010
- Foetus can sense mum's mental condition - Nov 11, 2011
- Foetus captured on film smiling at just 17 weeks - Oct 11, 2010
- 'Placenta key to pregnancy length' discovery ends 100-year mystery - Nov 17, 2010
- Bachchans give huge fillip to the 'girl child' in India - Nov 23, 2011
- Longer breast feeding helps babies develop bigger brains - Mar 30, 2011
- Mother's bone marrow could cure diseases in unborn baby - Jan 19, 2011
- Rod Stewart becomes father for the 8th time - Feb 18, 2011
- Even reading certain words can trigger a smile - Aug 08, 2009
- New-born baby boy found abandoned in Gurgaon - May 12, 2012
- New blood test will warn of premature births - Sep 06, 2011
- Why faces cannot lie? - Mar 19, 2012
- Depression in mums ups stress hormones in babies - Dec 10, 2010
- Minimally invasive procedure 'helpful to reanimate facial paralysis' - Jan 18, 2011
- Sitting down makes your bum bigger - Dec 05, 2011
Tags: babies in the womb, durham university, eyebrows, facial expressions, facial movements, facial muscle, foetuses, lancaster university, mathematician, move one, muscle movements, nadja, professor brian, recognisable, research group, several times, stages of pregnancy, study author, ultrasound machines, weeks of gestation