Babies Smile While in the Womb! Wow!

[hipplayer]

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SMILING FROM THE WOMB

From Sky News

Pioneering scanning techniques have produced astonishing images from inside the womb which show babies apparently smiling and crying.

Experts believe the breakthrough could lead to advances in baby health for a whole range of conditions, including Down's Syndrome.


The pictures offer a new insight into foetal behaviour.

The ultra-sound scanning techniques capture images which show the foetuses yawn, blink, suck their fingers and seem to cry and smile.

Up to now, doctors did not think infants made such expressions until after birth and believed they learned to smile by copying their mother.

The procedure has been pioneered by London obstetrician Professor Stuart Campbell at the Create Health Centre for Reproduction and Advanced Technology.

His pictures reveal foetuses moving their limbs at just eight weeks.

The new techniques, known as 3D and 4D scanning, allow for far more detailed examination of the foetus.

"There are many questions that can now be investigated," said Prof Campbell.

"Do babies with genetic problems such as Downs Syndrome have the same pattern of activity as normal babies?

"Does the foetus smile because it is happy, or cry because it has been disturbed by some event in the womb?

"Why does a foetus blink when we assume it's dark inside the uterus?"

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12773312,00.html

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Of course they smile..living humans tend to show emotion! 🙂

 

[AverageMan]

I take it that the picture in the article isn't one of the "smiling" pictures. It looks kind of bored 😛

 

[LapisLazuli]

it looks like mike tyson.

 

[AlternateSome1]

Why am I afraid that this is going to digress into a new debate about abortion?

~AS1~

 

[Street Philosopher]

every enlightened and well educated person knows that anything inside the womb is by definition not a baby because that is a term describing human beings and certain anthropomorphized animals but never a 46 chromosome containing parasite living inside the womb. but perhaps this last part about "living" should also be amended somehow to some nebulous and ultimately incoherent status so that we can rest peacefully knowing that this thing is not alive.

 

[vixenell]

Its just gas.

 

[pwrpfgrl]

Originally posted by vixenell
Its just gas.

exactly. otherwise, why wouldn't babies smile in response to stimulus w/in the first 2 months? and how can you cry if there's no O2 in your lungs?

 

[trauma_junky]

I know I would cry if I just filled my apartment with merconium!

 

[peterockduke]

how is a fetus going to have the bacteria in the intestinal tract to have gas in the first place?

 

[pwrpfgrl]

it's not REALLY gas! it's just an expression for it's not really a smile 🙂

ps - meconium shouldn't come out until the baby's born 😉

 

[Pre-Dent-David]

Originally posted by Blitzkrieg
Of course they smile..living humans tend to show emotion! 🙂

That begs the question of "How do you define living humans".... Not saying that you are wrong, but just that you cant argue logically. Don't worry about it though religious people aren't required to.

 

[carrigallen]

snip "Do babies with genetic problems such as Downs Syndrome have the same pattern of activity as normal babies?" /snip



Keep in mind why this finding is so important for "Down syndrome" research...in neonatology, it is difficult to assess the mental outcome of an infant. Facial cues in utero would be a clue as to whether a premature neonate will have a healthy outcome, viz. should be ventilated/aborted or not. Foreseeably, a "facial cue recognition test" would assess the outcome of a foetus for older mothers....basically making a murky issue even murkier.

 

[MeowMix]

This does not address the issue of whether the facial expressions are associated with expression of a specific emotion. Smiling, crying, snarling, grimacing - maybe they are just working their facial muscles, just like their arms and legs.

 

[sacrament]

Originally posted by MeowMix
This does not address the issue of whether the facial expressions are associated with expression of a specific emotion. Smiling, crying, snarling, grimacing - maybe they are just working their facial muscles, just like their arms and legs.

Exactly. Yeah, they're alive, but what more can you possibly conclude? And, if you did this procedure on a pregnant dog and saw her pups sticking out their tongues, yawning, etc., would you proclaim "THEY'RE HUMAN!"

 

[Homunculus]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
every enlightened and well educated person knows that anything inside the womb is by definition not a baby because that is a term describing human beings and certain anthropomorphized animals but never a 46 chromosome containing parasite living inside the womb. but perhaps this last part about "living" should also be amended somehow to some nebulous and ultimately incoherent status so that we can rest peacefully knowing that this thing is not alive.

i had an OB tell me that the fetus is more like a parasite than most peopel think. it gets whatever it needs at the expense of the mother. anyway, another gem from SP 🙂