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Why Babies Kick In The Womb- Mystery Solved. Read article to know the reason behind baby kicking in the womb
Why Babies Kick In The Womb- Mystery Solved
A recent peer-reviewed study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that the long-standing riddle of why infants kick their mothers in the stomach has been resolved.
As early as 16 weeks into the typical pregnancy, fluttering, wriggling, rolling, and yes, kicking unborn babies start to occur inside the womb. For a long time, it was thought that the “spontaneous motions” just happened at random, but a recent study has shown that these exercises actually help the animals train their tiny bodies.
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Researchers from the University of Tokyo have discovered that exercising during pregnancy is crucial for early child development, particularly for hand-eye coordination.
Hoshinori Kanazawa, a professor at the University of Tokyo and the study’s principal author, said, “We were startled that newborns’ motions “wandered” and they pursued multiple sensorimotor contacts during spontaneous movement. Sensorimotor wandering is the term we gave to this phenomenon.
The average in utero kick can carry a force of more than 10 pounds — and has mystified scientists for centuries, according to prior research published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. However, the new case study model has revealed just how this physical activity actually helps the infant learn to control its body.
The research team recorded the joint movements of 10 young infants who were all approximately three months old and 12 healthy newborns who were all less than ten days old using motion capture equipment.
A musculoskeletal computer model monitored sensory input and muscle activity throughout the entire body. Researchers discovered that the infants’ haphazard exploratory behavior led to patterns of muscle contact that later assisted them in performing sequential motions.
In contrast to other studies, which looked at joint motions or specific body parts, the current research examined muscle activity and sensory input signals across the entire body.
The development of the sensorimotor system is typically thought to depend on the occurrence of repeated sensorimotor contacts, meaning that the more often you perform a certain action, the more likely you are to learn and remember it, according to Kanazawa.
“However, our findings suggested that newborns create their own sensorimotor system based on exploratory behavior or curiosity, so they are performing a range of activities rather than merely repeating the same one. A conceptual relationship between early spontaneous movements and spontaneous neural activity is also shown by our findings.
Researchers indicated that a greater comprehension of how our sensorimotor system develops could aid in the earlier detection of developmental problems as well as provide insight into the origin of human movement.
Meanwhile, this is just the latest discovery of how a baby’s body — and brain — develop in the womb.
One alcoholic beverage each week during pregnancy can affect a baby’s brain, according to a different recent study. The physical shape of babies exposed to even small to moderate doses of alcohol was altered, and this delayed brain development.
The impact of sensorimotor wandering on subsequent development, including walking and reaching, as well as on more complex behaviors and higher cognitive processes, is what Kanazawa is interested in next.
He stated, “My initial training was in baby rehabilitation. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of early motor development and gaining knowledge that will aid to advance infant development are two of my research’s main objectives.
