This is the first of our blogs about baby's sensory world. There are few things that babies can do that will indeed surprise you!

Hearing

 Scientists in Barcelona carried out an experiment to see at what gestation babies were able to hear in-utero and to monitor how babies respond to music. Music was played intra-vaginally and trans-abdominally using a device called "The Baby Pod". In this experiment the soundtrack of choice was Johan Sebastian Bach's Partita in A minor. This piece of music was played to a variety of babies aged between 14 and 39 weeks gestation and 4D scans were performed to watch for any reactions.

Prior to introducing the music, 4D scans were performed to monitor movements without music and around 45% moved head and limbs, 30% moving mouths and 10% sticking their tongues out. 

 When the music was introduced,  87% responded when playing music via the intravaginal speaker. Whilst watching the 4D scan it was found that babies were moving their heads and limbs, with 50% making striking movements and more often the the older babies sticking out their tongues and opening their mouths as wide as possible. 

Fewer responded to the  trans-abdominal speaker systems.

It had been thought previously, that babies could only hear during the third trimester, but during this experiment it was found that babies can hear very much earlier at around 16 weeks. 

It is said that babies can actually learn to recognise language in-utero as well as suck their thumbs, yawn, taste, see but we will talk more about these amazing facts later.

A few people will get to see this as a part of their 4D baby scan appointment, but then again, if baby decides to have a nap then we might not be able to witness these wonderful reactions, but when it does happen it is fantastic!