Foetuses smile
Unborn babies smile inside the womb, according to scientists.
A new ultrasound scanner appears to have overturned the view that babies do not smile until weeks after birth.
Previously it was thought, babies learnt to smile by imitating their mothers.
But according to London obstetrician Professor Stuart Campbell, 4D scanning techniques reveal that foetuses smile, cry, yawn and blink inside the womb.
Prof Campbell, who uses the scanner at the Create Health clinic in London, said: “It is remarkable that a newborn baby does not smile for about six weeks after birth. Before birth most babies smile frequently.
“This may indicate a baby’s calm, trouble-free existence in the womb, and the relatively traumatic first few weeks after the birth, when the baby is reacting to a strange new environment.”
He added: “With 2D scanning you can see the eyeballs rolling, but now with 4D scanning it is quite clear that they are opening their eyelids, and that is in a very dark environment, so it must be a reflex.
“They make breathing movements inside the uterus, but there is no air, and they blink, but there is no light, so it seems they are making preparations for birth.”
Prof Campbell said the new technology improved the detection of abnormalities such as cleft palate and heart defects.
