How your baby develops the ability to hear, see, feel, taste, and smell inside the womb
The cochlea and auditory pathways begin developing. The foundations of hearing are being laid.
Your baby can now hear muffled sounds from outside the womb. Your heartbeat, digestive sounds, and muffled external voices are all part of their world.
Studies show babies startle or move in response to loud sounds. They can distinguish different voices and may show a preference for familiar voices β especially yours.
Talk, sing, and read to your baby from around week 25 onward. Research shows babies recognise their mother's voice at birth and are soothed by it. Your voice is their first sense of security.
The eyes are structurally present but the eyelids remain fused together, protecting the developing retina.
The eyelids open for the first time. Your baby can detect light that shines through your abdomen β the womb appears a warm orange-red glow.
The pupils begin to contract and dilate in response to light. Your baby is practising the visual reflexes they'll need at birth.
Newborns can see clearly at about 20β30 cm β exactly the distance from your face when you hold them to breastfeed. Vision develops rapidly in the first year.
Touch receptors begin forming around the mouth. Touch is the earliest sense to develop.
Touch sensitivity spreads across the entire body. Your baby can feel sensations through the skin and responds to touch from the uterine wall.
Your baby touches their own face, sucks their thumb, grasps the umbilical cord, and pushes against the uterine wall. These movements develop motor coordination.
The taste buds develop and become functional. Your baby swallows amniotic fluid, which carries flavours from your diet.
Research shows that babies exposed to certain flavours through amniotic fluid (garlic, vanilla, carrot) show preferences for those flavours after birth. Eating a varied diet during pregnancy may help your baby be a less picky eater!
The amniotic fluid is rich in odour molecules from your diet. Your baby's sense of smell develops and is already active in the third trimester.
Newborns can recognise and prefer their mother's scent β especially breast milk β almost immediately after birth. This powerful bonding mechanism was developed in the womb.
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