Babies Show Facial Expressions in the Womb

Babies practice facial expressions of pain even before being born, a new study has reported.

According to researchers, "facial expressions that show pain" aren't learnt after seeing others, but are programmed in the womb as a developmental process. The study was conducted by researchers from Durham and Lancaster Universities.

A recent study had shown that babies can understand parts of speech as early as three months before birth.

The present study, which included 4-D scans of 15 healthy babies, showed that healthy fetuses' facial expression develop and grow more complex with age.

This ability to show pain helps the babies start communicating with the parent (or caregiver) immediately after birth.

"It is vital for infants to be able to show pain as soon as they are born so that they can communicate any distress or pain they might feel to their carers and our results show that healthy fetuses 'learn' to combine the necessary facial movements before they are born," said Dr. Nadja Reissland, of Durham University's Department of Psychology, lead researcher of the study.

In fact, these facial expressions can also be used to determine how well the baby is doing in the womb.

"This (the study findings) suggests that we can determine the normal development of facial movements and potentially identify abnormal development too. This could then provide a further medical indication of the health of the unborn baby," Reissland said in a news release.

For the study, researchers analyzed video footage of 15 babies; eight female and seven male fetuses. They looked at specific facial features from the second to third trimester (24 to 36 weeks) of the pregnancy.

They found that at 24 weeks of pregnancy, fetuses rarely show any facial movements. But by 36 weeks of pregnancy, these "older fetuses" show facial expressions such as lowering the eyebrows, wrinkling the nose and stretching the mouth, which signifies pain.

Reissland said that it isn't clear if the babies were actually feeling any pain. It is also possible that the facial expression must be associated with brain development rather than emotional state.

The next step for researchers is to see whether or not the fetuses change facial expression when exposed to an unhealthy environment such as smoking or drinking by the mother.

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.