Scans uncover secrets of the womb

A new type of ultrasound scan has produced the vivid pictures of a 12 week-old foetus "walking" in the womb.

The new images also show foetuses apparently yawning and rubbing its eyes.

The scans, pioneered by Professor Stuart Campbell at London's Create Health Clinic, are much more detailed than conventional ultrasound.

Professor Campbell has previously released images of unborn babies appearing to smile.

He has compiled a book of the images called Watch Me Grow.

Conventional ultrasound, usually offered to mothers at 12 and 20 weeks, produces 2D images of the developing foetus.

These are very useful for helping doctors to measure and assess the growth of the foetus, but convey very little information about behaviour.

Complex behaviour

Professor Campbell has perfected a technique which not only produces detailed 3D images, but records foetal movement in real time.

He says his work has been able to show for the first time that the unborn baby engages in complex behaviour from an early stage of its development.

Professor Campbell told the BBC: "This is a new science for understanding and mapping out the behaviour of the baby.

"Maybe in the future it will help us understand and diagnose genetic disease, maybe even conditions like cerebral palsy which puzzles the medical profession as to why it occurs."

The images have shown:

From 12 weeks, unborn babies can stretch, kick and leap around the womb - well before the mother can feel movement

From 18 weeks, they can open their eyes although most doctors thought eyelids were fused until 26 weeks

From 26 weeks, they appear to exhibit a whole range of typical baby behaviour and moods, including scratching, smiling, crying, hiccoughing, and sucking.

Until recently it was thought that smiling did not start until six weeks after birth.

An hour long session using the new technology, which is not yet available on the NHS, costs £275.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3846525.stm

Published: 2004/06/28 12:28:39 GMT

Baby 'walking' in the womb

More pictures of developing foetuses

1 of 10
At eight weeks gestation, this foetus is able to kick and straighten his legs, turn them round and move his arms up and down.

2 of 10 At ten weeks gestation, this foetus can move her arms and legs with a range of movements that are fluid and supple.

3 of 10 At 22 weeks gestation babies are capable of fine hand and finger movements. In a short space of time this baby scratches, rubs and pats his cheek before doing the same to his nose.

4 of 10 This foetus exhibits behaviour identical to what he will do after birth,. If he's held upright on a flat surface he will try and move forward.

5 of 10 This baby's brain has developed sufficiently to enable him apparently to sense the other parts of his body. He can bring his fingertips together so they touch.

6 of 10 From about 24 weeks of pregnancy when retinal development is complete, babies open and close their eyes intermittently. This helps a baby to perfect the blinking reflex, which will protect his eyes once he's born.

7 of 10 Although grasping begins early it becomes better established during the last trimester. Babies grasp hands, feet, fingers, toes and, most commonly, their umbilical cords.

8 of 10 While newborns do not smile until 4-6 weeks after birth, babies in the uterus do. Maybe because the uterus is warm, comfortable, and shielded from loud noise and bright light.

9 of 10 Foetuses as young as 11 weeks have been seen with their thumbs in their mouths. This baby started out sucking his smallest toes and gradually moves on to suck a bigger and better toe.

10 of 10 Babies produce a motion approximating to yawning from as early as 12 weeks' pregnancy. Maybe this is nature's way of ensuring that as soon as she enters the world, she'll be able to take her first breath.