Table of contents:
- The stage of development of the human senses in the womb
- 1. The sense of touch
- 2. The sense of hearing
- 3. Sense of sight
- 4. Sense of smell and taste
Basically, the human sensory system has begun to develop throughout pregnancy and will affect the development of the fetal brain. This is what allows the baby's five senses (touch, listener, smell or smell, sight, and taste) to function at birth, although not maximally. The maturation process of each sense will take place with the age and development process of the baby. Now, to find out the growth and development of the five human senses in the womb, see the reviews in this article.
The stage of development of the human senses in the womb
1. The sense of touch
The sensory system, aka the human senses, is the first to develop the sense of touch. In the fetus, the sense of touch begins to develop at around 8 weeks of gestation. At the 12th week, the fetus begins to feel and respond to touch all over its body, except for the top of its head, which remains unresponsive until birth. At the next gestational age, the fetus's body will continue to develop a network of nerves that will sharpen its sense of touch.
2. The sense of hearing
The formation of the auditory organ system starts from 4-5 weeks of gestation. After that development and growth continues, either the inner or the outer ear.
Then at 18-20 weeks of gestation, the fetal hearing system is completely intact. At this age, the fetus can begin to hear sounds from the uterus. He will begin to hear the sound of blood flowing through the placenta, the sound of the heartbeat, to the sound of air in the lungs.
Then at the age of 24-26 weeks, the fetus can already respond to loud noises with hiccups. Furthermore, in the third trimester of pregnancy, the sound that is most clearly heard by the fetus in the womb is the voice of the mother. At this age, you may feel the fetus's response more often to how it will actively move in the stomach when spoken to.
3. Sense of sight
From the beginning of pregnancy to the age of 25 weeks, your baby's eyes will always be closed to develop the retina. Only at 26-28 weeks of gestation, the fetal eyelids will begin to open. The fetus will open its eyes every now and then, even though it can't see anything yet.
Furthermore, in the third trimester, the fetus can detect bright light that enters the uterus, be it sunlight or light rays. However, this will depend on factors of the thickness of the uterus, muscles, and the clothes the mother is wearing.
4. Sense of smell and taste
The sense of taste is connected to the sense of smell. At 11-15 weeks of age, the receptors that the fetus will use to detect smell and taste have begun to function. Since in the womb, the fetus can actually detect the smell of the food you eat and the smell you breathe through the amniotic fluid that passes through the fetus's mouth and nose.
Research shows that fetuses prefer sweet tastes to bitter and sour tastes. The fetus will swallow more amniotic fluid when the sweet taste is high, and the fetus will not swallow much water when the amniotic fluid tastes bitter.
It is estimated that at the age of 21 weeks, the fetus can understand the feeling of fullness of the amniotic fluid by using its sense of smell and taste.
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