Why is the baby in the womb again pedaling?

For the first time felt that the baby in the belly was a very strange feeling that the mother felt, it was like a sign to the mother that the baby in her stomach had her own thoughts . But why does the baby kick?

Although it is very cramped in the womb, it seems unsuitable for exercise but it turns out that pedal movements are extremely important for the development of the baby's bones and joints.

The fetus begins to move when it is about 7 weeks old with neck movement. The bigger the baby, the more movement, such as hiccup, limb movement, stretching, yawning and finger sucking, but the mother only feels when she is kicking or punching, that is, about 16-18 weeks of pregnancy, At this time the baby is stronger and has stronger movements.

So does the baby actively perform those movements or is it just a reflex? According to Niamh Nowlan, a biomedical technologist at the Royal College of London, her initial movements are simply reflexes, but gradually the movements are actively taken by her , "it is like as much as the brain knows how and when to control a baby's movements " (also reflected, it is only controlled by the spinal cord, not by the brain).

Babies need to be active to be healthy after birth.

Scientists are not sure if the fetal movements are spontaneous or reflexive, but Nowlan says the study confirms that movements are important, babies need to be active to stay healthy. After birth , movement is especially important for your baby's joints. The lack of exercise in the fetus causes many congenital disorders, such as short joints and thin bones, which lead to fractures.

There is no standard to evaluate a fetus that is too much or too little, pregnant women only need to watch for babies who have too unusual movements. This advice seems very general, but so far the experts have not been able to give any more specific advice. The reason for this is that studying the movements of the fetus is extremely difficult, because the only way to measure the movements of babies is that the mother has to go to the hospital and can only measure about one time at a time. short time.

Nowlan and her colleagues are trying to perfect a device to monitor fetal movement that mothers can wear regularly every day. The researchers tested the device, using 44 pregnant mothers from 24 to 34 weeks of use, and found that the device could accurately measure breathing, sudden movement and other general movements of fetal body. The results of this study were published in PLOS One magazine in May 2018.

Another study published in 2001 in the Human Fetal and Neonatal Movement Patterns found that in the womb, boys often move many girls, especially foot movements in the 20th week, 34 and 37 weeks of age. However, the number of subjects in the study is still small, only 37 children are monitored, so Nowland and the others Industry has not yet confirmed the relationship between gender and fetal movement.

Each mother noticed that her child was moving in a different way, and every mother in different pregnancies also found her children different. For example, with Nowlan, she said that the second pregnancy she saw her pedal more than the first time, she felt clearly where the baby's legs were placed, while for the first time, she hardly felt anything. She is conducting research to be able to conclude that the difference is because after the first pregnancy, the abdominal muscles were dilated, making the pregnancies after the mother more sensitive to fetal movement.

According to a new study by Nowlan and colleagues, fetal movement that the mother feels most often called "pedal". At 20 weeks of age, the fetal pedal strength is about 2kg and increases to 4kg at the 30th week. After that time, the baby's pedal force drops below 2kg. Scientists assume that the baby's pedal force is reduced because the baby's body is larger, and the womb has become cramped, causing her to limit movement.

In addition to the "pedal" movement, the fetus also has other movements. At around the 15th week of age, babies can also "punch" , open their mouths, close their mouths, turn their heads and suck their thumbs. A few weeks later, the baby may open, close his eyes. However, the mother can only feel her strong movements such as kicking, punching and hiccup.

The fetus also has "breathing" movements. Although she hasn't really breathed air yet, she has the same movement, but every time she breathes out, amniotic fluid is instead of air. According to Ms Nowlan, babies who do not have such breathing will often experience respiratory problems when they are born, because their chest muscles are not developed.

In short, the feeling of a baby moving and pedaling in the womb is a strange feeling, but it is a sign of the baby's healthy development.