April 2013 Moms

When do you think our babies become aware?

I was just thinking about this.  Clearly, when they're just dividing cells, they don't know they're alive.  But my pregnancy app says Peanut's organs are almost fully formed now.  Does he know he's in there?  Whenever we start feeling them kicking, surely they're aware then, don't you think?  Or is it just a mindless reflex?

 I googled this question and got a ton of arguments for and against abortion, which is totally not what I'm talking about.  I assume that anyone on the April 2013 Moms board is planning to keep the baby, so let's not go there.  Do you think he/she knows she's alive?

* TTC since 2010; Me-36, DH-40
* Diagnosis of PCOS in 2011 (suspected since teens)
* Miscarraige September 2011; XY with Trisomy 15
*November 2011 - January 2012 - 3 cycles of Femora - BFN x 3
* 2/12 and 4/12 Tamoxifen - no response
Planned to start Follistim for COH August '12 but...
Surprise!! BFP! And it's a girl!!

"He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." Job 5:9
baby d'oh, no ID
D'Oh!

Re: When do you think our babies become aware?

  • I had my first sonogram yesterday and was actually wondering the same thing! 
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  • Interesting.
    I would think at this point the brain would not have the capacity. I would assume when their senses touch, sound, ect comes into play then everything is more "real"?
  • I think once you get well into the second trimester, they "know" they are there. With DS, we had many ultrasounds of him sucking his thumb, moving his arms around, kicking.... I don't think sucking a thumb is a reflex.
    I think this is a question you are going to get a ton of different answers on though.
    IVF, OHSS, PPROM, loss of twins at 23 weeks, and a FET to get my take home baby. Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
    IVF cycle two=success! Hoping for another take home baby. Missed miscarriage at 9w4d. Here we go again....
    IVF cycle three- transferred two and had NINE to freeze. BFP! Hoping this is our second rainbow baby.
  • imagegreengirl09:

    If I hold up my one year old son to a mirror, he gets excited to see a baby in the mirror.  He doesn't yet have the logical faculties to *know* that the baby he sees is himself.  I don't think baby's develop a self-consciousness (I am me, and I am alive) until much later.

    If you are talking consciousness in general, I would say from conception...but I don't think my inside baby can perform any sort of self-analysis right now.

    This. 

    Lexy

    <a href="http://www.thebump.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Trying to Conceive"><img src="http://global.thebump.com/tickers/tt1d63ef" alt=" Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker" border="0"  /></a>

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  • imageGrace0609:

    Interesting question.

    I know that it isn't until after 11 weeks that the autonomic nervous system is developed enough to start taking over some control of the baby's heart rate (up until then it is pacemaking cells in the muscle of the heart that control the rate).  And, I would assume the neuro pathways in the brain have to experience things (like bumping up against the wall of the uterus, or swallowing amniotic fluid, etc) a few times to start forming those pathways since that is how we learn to do things.  But, I doubt we'll ever know exactly when a baby really starts to "think."

    I like this logic.

    Really interesting to think about!  

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  • This is very interesting. I really have no answer but I'm enjoying reading others' thoughts.

    I know I have days where I have to remind myself I'm pregnant - not that I actually forget but I think I'm still in shock to some degree that there's actually a baby growing in there. So as for being self-aware, sheesh, I'm 35 and apparently I'm still working on it. Wink

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  • imageLola104:
    I think once you get well into the second trimester, they "know" they are there. With DS, we had many ultrasounds of him sucking his thumb, moving his arms around, kicking.... I don't think sucking a thumb is a reflex.
    I think this is a question you are going to get a ton of different answers on though.

     

    I actually took a child development class in HS and they said that sucking thumbs actually is a reflex! 

    Elisabeth Lee "Ella"
    Born April 14, 2013

    image
    Hey, pretty girl, it feels so right, 
    Just like it's meant to be
    All wrapped up in my arms so tight
    Hey, pretty girl, it feels so right
    Life's a long and winding ride
    Better have the right one by your side
    And happiness don't drag its feet
    Time moves faster than you think
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