Do infants sneeze in the womb?

 

Do infants sneeze in the womb?

                                                                 

One of the delights of receiving a pregnancy newsletter (like ours!) is seeing how much growth your child is making each week.

It's easier to relate to the tiny person you're waiting to welcome into the world when you know that they're developing tiny ears or that they've begun to blink.

You'll probably start to see familiar habits forming as the pregnancy goes on. Perhaps you and your partner notice your child is particularly active every evening while you cuddle on the couch. Or your surrogate might indicate that she experiences brief flutters and kicks every morning.

You might be wondering if this indicates that your child is occasionally asleep and occasionally awake. You might be curious about their prenatal awareness. In order to provide you with answers to these questions and others, we looked into the study.

Do children sleep in the womb then?

Yes. In actuality, from what we can determine, babies sleep the majority of the time while they are inside the womb. They spend over 95% of the time sleeping between 38 and 40Trusted Source weeks of pregnancy.

Sleep during the early stages of foetal development is less understood. Even now, technology has its limits. Rapid eye movement, a characteristic of REM sleep, is the focus of the majority of studies on foetal sleep in the early stages of pregnancy. The initial rapid eye movements are noticed sometime in the seventh month of foetal development.

There are four stages of sleep, according to studies: the first two are lighter sleep, and the latter two are deep restorative sleep.

A sleep cycle also includes REM sleep, which starts about 90 minutes in. An increase in respiration, blood pressure, and heart rate are characteristics of this stage. The brain waves resemble those of someone who is awake, and the eyes move swiftly. You might start dreaming at this point.

Although there are limitations to what researchers can learn about foetal sleep, it is possible that infants are dreaming during REM stages based on what is known about sleep in general. We can't be certain of what they're dreaming about.

But given how intense their desires are during pregnancy, some might counter that they must be having food dreams.

What do the studies reveal?

Numerous techniques have been employed by researchers to examine foetal sleep habits.

Researchers examined foetal heart rate in a 2010 study and discovered that the results showed consistent sleep and waking habits.

In a 2008 study, scientists compared the same participants between utero and birth using foetal electrocardiographic (FECG) data. The four states they monitored were quiet sleep, active sleep, quiet waking, and active waking. Eye motions, heart rates, and body movements were used to determine each stage.

They discovered that the sleep patterns formed in utero were identical, but that babies who had spent more time sleeping during the foetal stage had more developed sleep patterns, which meant that they slept less before giving birth.

Having said that, don't assume that simply because you weren't awake all night while you were pregnant, your child would sleep well. Even though newborns still prefer to sleep for the majority of the day, they should wake up for feedings every few hours all day long.

In a 2009 study, researchers focused on foetal sheep to learn more about the early sleep habits, which are more challenging to investigate in human beings. The unborn sheep's brain activity displayed behavioural patterns that suggested early, immature sleep cycles.

In fact, sleep is more than just a time for rest and dreaming. A tiny 2018 study of premature infants showed that movement during REM sleep aids in environment processing and promotes brain development.

The majority of the research on sleep that is now accessible focuses on the negative effects of sleep deprivation, but the evidence we do have suggests that sleep is crucial for brain development and general health.

Having knowledge of prenatal development

The brain of your unborn child starts to grow as soon as one week after conception. The brain and other significant organs are increasing in size but are not yet clearly characterised in the early stages. It becomes more substantial and intricate as the weeks go by.

The first trimester is when taste buds first develop. Amniotic fluid contains flavours and fragrances that mom's diet left behind.

Long before you feel it, movement starts (usually around 20 weeks). Although you might not be aware of every movement, your foetus probably moves at least 50 times per hour. Despite the fact that they move both during their resting and waking periods, these motions do not necessarily indicate that they are awake.

In the second trimester, the middle ear's structure begins to take shape. Your baby may start to show evidence of speech recognition in weeks 25 or 26.

Therefore, even though your child may sleep for the majority of their time in utero, a lot is happening at the same time. They are expanding their senses, becoming aware of their environment, and getting ready for their big debut even as they are snoozing off.

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