Babies in the Womb Respond to the Outside World

Since the 1990s, Pennsylvania-based Real Alternatives has served as a resource for women experiencing unplanned pregnancies. The nonprofit, now a government social service partner provider in three states, offers free counseling sessions, referrals for adoption, and a full year of support for mothers who choose to raise their babies. Due to Real Alternatives’ compassionate, caring approach, women have learned that they are not alone as they struggle against pressures to abort their babies.

Research has shown the extraordinary responsiveness of unborn babies to outside stimuli, and even to their mothers’ moods. These developing human beings are far from passive inhabitants of the womb.

As soon as the eighth week after conception, a baby has developed a sense of touch. Ultrasounds have shown that by 11 weeks, many unborn babies have begun to explore their own worlds by putting a hand to their mouths, or even by “walking” up the inside of the amniotic sac.

Unborn babies also display definite reactions to their mothers’ movements, often turning over in the womb, or striking back with an arm, in response to a touch from outside.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that emotion-triggered chemicals released into a mother’s bloodstream are transmitted to her unborn baby. Ultrasounds have also shown that when their mothers laugh, babies in the womb may respond with enthusiastic bouncing movements, and when their mothers are sad, they tend to become more quiescent.