Scientists Can Finally Explain Why Babies Kick Inside the Womb of Their Mothers

Scientists Can Finally Explain Why Babies Kick Inside the Womb of Their Mothers
SHARE

Giving birth to a child is one of the most wonderful feelings that a woman can experience. This is despite the fact that, in many cases, birth can be an extremely painful act. Scientists couldn’t exactly explain why babies kick the wombs of their mothers while being inside. They had a few theories, though.

Babies were thought to kick in the womb because it might help them to explore and become familiar with their environment. Babies can feel and respond to stimuli in the womb, such as the sound of their mother’s voice or the sensation of being touched, and they may kick in response to these stimuli.

Babies may also kick in the womb when they are experiencing discomfort or distress, such as when they are hungry or need to be changed. Kicking can be a way for babies to communicate their needs to their caregivers.

As for now, the truth has finally been revealed, as we have a precise answer.

The unborn kick the womb to train their bodies

The new study by researchers at the University of Tokyo indicates that babies are literally working out in their wombs, which represents a very important part of early child development. 

Hoshinori Kanazawa from the University of Tokyo, who’s also the lead study author of the new research, stated:

We were surprised that during spontaneous movement, infants’ movements ‘wandered’ and they pursued various sensorimotor interactions,

We named this phenomenon ‘sensorimotor wandering.’ 

A research team studied the joint movements of 22 infants, including 12 newborns and 10 young infants, using motion capture technology. They used a musculoskeletal computer model to track muscle activity and sensory input throughout the body, and they found that patterns of muscle interaction developed based on the babies’ exploratory behavior and later helped them to perform sequential movements.

The new research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


SHARE

Even since he was a child, Cristian was staring curiously at the stars, wondering about the Universe and our place in it. Today he's seeing his dream come true by writing about the latest news in astronomy. Cristian is also glad to be covering health and other science topics, having significant experience in writing about such fields.

Post Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.