As we told you not long ago, 3D and 4D ultrasound are evolving a lot. This increase in definition makes it increasingly feasible to know what babies do inside the womb and study how what they do affects their development or later life.
A study done with these ultrasound shows that babies make various faces of pain in the womb, expressions of disgust, which are the same as they do after birth when they are dissatisfied with something or when they feel pain. According to the researchers, it could be an essay to prepare for the sufferings in external life and to achieve let him know to their caregivers, that is, to their parents.
Some facts about the study
To do the study, 4 fetuses were performed in 4D ultrasound, eight of them girls and seven children, who were observed four times in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Thanks to that progression over time, they could see how as the pregnancy progressed facial expressions became more complex.
To date it was known that fetuses, due to immaturity, had no pain before 25 weeks of gestation. In this study, however, it has been observed that at that "age" they already show interpretable facial expressions as a sign of pain or discomfort. It should be clarified that in week 24 only 5% of facial expressions are of disgust or pain, being a combination of 3 gestures, and 0.3% a combination of 4 gestures. At 36 weeks, to compare, 21.2% of the gestures they make with the face are discomfort, with 3 simultaneous gestures, and 2.8% when they combine 4 of the 6 gestures that can be interpreted as grimaces of pain or disagreement.
This comes to show something logical, that as gestation progresses gestures become more complex, fetuses are more expressive and that this evolution serves to show that a fetus is developing normally.
Why do these movements
The big question is to know why they are making these movements, those expressions, if they do them for real pain or if they are a "testing, testing ..." in the same way that they move other muscles in your body. The researchers are not clear about the answer, but they suggest that it may be an essay, of a preparation in facial gestures to withstand the pain of childbirth, the discomfort after giving birth and ultimately a training to know how to show parents disagreement.
Do not forget that the only way a baby has to ask for something or to express that he needs something different from what he is receiving is crying. So the more skilled you are to show when you are upset, the more likely you are to meet your demands.
The researchers, in any case, leave the door open to new studies that continue to assess the moment in which the gestures appear, to determine to what extent the moment of the appearance and the moment when the grimaces become more complex can show a adequate development pattern, or show that the fetus has a slower development and to finish confirm that all those gestures of pain in the uterus are performed as life training.
And we, eager to continue studying with real images to the fetuses, because that way we can gradually know them a little more thoroughly before being born based on what is seen and not based on what is believed. Obviously, the more technology advances, the more answers will be found.
