Theoretical foundations of prenatal child development. Prenatal education - rationale and methodology - BabyPlus RUSSIA Prenatal (antenatal) education system prenatal education (pedagogy) and prenatal education baby plus

02.08.2019

What is prenatal development?
Prenatal development is everything that happens to a future baby from conception to birth. Quite often, doctors use the term "perinatal period" to refer to the time "around" childbirth - from about 28 weeks of gestation. Any sane person understands that while the child is in the mother's belly, all organs and systems of the body are being formed. Physical metamorphosis of the embryo can be observed using ultrasound.
Does the fetus have a psyche? When does it appear? What mental characteristics are formed during the prenatal period? Is parenting possible before birth? Prenatal psychology is trying to find an answer to these and many other questions.

The moment of birth is considered the beginning of the child's individual - separate from the mother - mental life. It is from this moment that we begin to observe how the baby gradually learns the world and its laws. He first learns to focus his attention on objects and toys. Then she begins to distinguish familiar faces from unfamiliar ones, reacts to the appearance of her mother and her voice. Quite quickly, the child learns to understand the people around him and control their behavior with the help of crying and smiling.
But in our life nothing happens "suddenly", out of nowhere. Everything has its own prerequisites and history of development. We don't walk, talk, eat with a spoon, tie our shoelaces, ride a bicycle, read and write in an instant. Features of any age are prepared by going through the previous stages. Consequently, prenatal development during the prenatal period gives rise to the mental characteristics of the unborn baby.

The human psyche is a property of his brain. This property allows people to perceive the world i.e. to see, hear, taste, smell and touch. The brain accumulates this knowledge, analyzes it and stores it in memory. From these data, an image of the world is formed, an understanding of various phenomena and an attitude towards them. Based on his picture of the world, the individual chooses certain reactions to external events, commits actions.
If the psyche is a property of the brain, then it arises when the main brain structures are formed. When does this event take place? The 1st trimester of pregnancy is considered the time of formation of the main somatic structures (body). During the 2nd trimester, fetal organs mature to the level necessary for survival.
During the 3rd trimester, the structures of the brain mature, all body systems are prepared for the work and the transformation of a fragile embryo into an infant actively adapting to the environment. The working brain begins to send electrical signals. This is how, conducting research on sheep, scientists have identified the alleged origin of the psyche.

Prenatal Period: Main Trends in Mental Development
As you already understood, physical development is far from the only process that occurs with the human body during the prenatal period. Prenatal psychology has accumulated a fairly large array of data on the mental life of the future baby.
Already at the age of 15 weeks, the fetus is able to make grasping movements, wrinkle, move eyes and "grimace". Irritation of the soles or eyelids is caused by reflex movements - the prerequisites for future independent motor activity.

Ultrasound examination of the larynx revealed the first movements associated with the generation of sounds at the age of 18 weeks. After birth, thanks to the surrounding air environment, phonation will be expressed in a cry at birth and will quickly develop into a whole spectrum of articulate sounds that accompany a person throughout his life.
By the 20th week, prenatal development is enriched with the first mechanisms of future cognition of the world - the organs of taste and smell develop.
By the 24th week, skin sensitivity develops more fully. On its basis, tactile sensations will subsequently be formed, which make it possible to determine the temperature and study the surface of various objects. Around this time, the fetus begins to respond to sound.
At 27 weeks, the fetus sometimes turns its head in the direction of light directed at the mother's abdomen (response to light is confirmed by brain scans).

All these forms of behavior in the perinatal period - mimic movements, kicking, body turns and head movement - are possibly arbitrary, i.e. independent movements of the fetus, striving to take the most comfortable position.
The susceptibility of the unborn baby and the variety of forms of his behavior, which determine prenatal education, increase significantly at the 8th month of pregnancy. In the middle of this month, the fetus's eyes open and he can see his hands and the surrounding space, despite the fact that the inside of the uterus is dark.

Some scientists believe that from the 32nd week, the fetus begins to realize what is happening, since many of the neural systems of the brain by this time have already fully formed. Brain scans show periods of sleep, possibly dreaming.
With the transition to the 9th month, prenatal development consists in the fact that the fetus establishes daily cycles of sleep and wakefulness and the development of hearing is completed.

Parenting before birth: hypotheses and research
The question of how the experience gained during the prenatal period affects the subsequent development of the child has been of interest to people for a long time. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was interested in prenatal education. He believed that the fetus can have sensations. Modern researchers are grappling with the mystery of whether the fetus is capable of learning. Can parenting start before birth? Will this give the child an advantage in further learning? Is there any evidence to support or disprove prenatal education?
Prenatal psychology is based on the idea that during the prenatal period, the child adapts to his rather noisy environment through habituation. According to scientists, addiction is the simplest form of learning. Being in the mother's belly, the baby learns to respond to certain stimuli. For example, repetitive sounds such as a heartbeat have a calming effect on him. The child shudders at new sudden sounds or vibrations, but calms down as they repeat.

Professor Peter Hepper of the Center for Fetal Behavior at Queen's University Belfast, who has studied prenatal development, conducted an interesting experiment with a group of expectant mothers living in London. The scientist divided them into 2 groups: in one there were women who watched the soap opera Neighbors every day, in the other - those who did not watch this series.
A few hours after the babies were born, Hepper played the theme music from this movie to the newborns when they cried. Hearing this music, the children of mothers from the first group stopped crying and began to listen. Children of mothers who did not watch the series did not react in any way to the music.
There was no doubt that the newborns, who had been accustomed to the music from the TV series in the womb, had learned something.

If the fetus is capable of learning, why not use this opportunity by starting parenting before birth?
French researcher Alfred A. Tomatis, after conducting a series of medical experiments, concluded that classical music has a beneficial effect on the brain. Listening to Mozart's music activates not only the auditory and emotional centers, but the entire cortex as a whole. This fact is called the "Mozart Effect". Researchers at the University of Illinois analyzed the frequency response of music to see if it matched the cycles of the human brain. All contemporary pop music is at the very bottom of the list. And the top lines are confidently taken by Mozart's sonata in C major. Activating the cerebral cortex while listening to classical music improves memory and stimulates thinking.

I hope I managed to convince you that prenatal education is not a myth, but a very real opportunity to positively influence the psyche of a baby. More than a thousand years ago, there were clinics in China where expectant mothers spent their pregnancy, surrounded by peace and beauty. Doctors are strenuously stuffing modern mothers with all kinds of information, trying to prevent possible difficulties in the future care of the baby. An excess of negative data provokes anxiety.
Thomas Verney - MD - convincingly proves that the best prenatal parenting for a child is to be wanted and loved. He receives this invaluable experience in the womb. Prenatal development using this method is aimed at reducing stress in the mother through a variety of exercises. Talking to the baby, singing and reading aloud is recommended for mom. The author believes that mental communication with a baby is very effective. Positive dreams for the future of the baby are of great importance.

Brent Logan, director of the US Early Learning Institute, has recorded sixteen Baby Cassettes that the mother-to-be inserts into a player strapped to a belt around her belly. The cassettes begin with a recording of the mother's normal heartbeat, then the scale becomes more complex and includes 36 heart rate variations. Dr. Logan believes that in this way, prenatal education prepares for subsequent learning based on the main rhythms of the environment.
Rene Van de Karr, founder of Prenatal University, suggests stimulating fetal brain development through a program that includes games such as tapping and other exercises. Parents-to-be are taught to tap the mother's belly in the place where the baby is pushing, and loudly, as when teaching a native language, to pronounce words that encourage the activity of the baby. Dr. Van de Karr argues that newborns who have undergone prenatal development at his university are more active, develop faster, develop closer and more emotional relationships with their parents than those who did not take his program.

Mikhail Lazarev - head of the laboratory for the formation of children's health at the Russian Scientific Center for Restorative Medicine - has developed a method for optimizing the psychophysiological development of the fetus through active musical influence. This technique, called "Sonatal", consists in the fact that a pregnant woman sings certain specially written songs during the day, making a series of movements and depicting her feelings in a drawing. Mothers who have tried this method note a close spiritual connection with the child, an increase in his musicality, the dominance of positive emotions and an increase in the general creative activity of children.
Thus, many researchers believe that parenting before birth is possible. There are, of course, scientists who are skeptical about this idea. But even they note that the attention given to the unborn child by the parents contributes to the creation of favorable relationships, strengthening of mutual understanding between spouses. It is not so important which specific methodology the parents prefer. The main thing is that family members are united by a new joint activity. This makes them true partners in such a responsible business as prenatal development. And happy parents who love each other and the baby are a guarantee of mental health and harmonious development of the child.

In addition, classes on any program help to develop a suitable daily routine, allow you to prioritize, determine the important and secondary, distract from worrying thoughts and strengthen your mother's confidence in herself and her future.
I wish you happiness, mutual understanding, emotional comfort and easy delivery.

The prenatal development of a child fascinates with its speed and global nature of changes. During this crucial period, which lasts from the moment of fertilization of the egg cell to childbirth, a baby from two cells turns into a small person. Few people know that prenatal development is not only the laying and development of internal organs. Even before birth, the child has fully developed hearing, smell, taste buds, vision and skin sensitivity. Using his senses, the baby receives information about the world outside the uterus, and tries to prepare as much as possible for the surrounding conditions.

How did prenatal development techniques come about?

Scientists have done a lot of research in the field of prenatal child development, and here are the results of some of them.

Children whose mothers experienced hunger during pregnancy for some reason are obese in adulthood. The body remembers the situation of lack of nutrients and translates it for the rest of its life.
Children remember their mom's food preferences. If the mother loved carrots during pregnancy, then the children after birth prefer to eat cereals and juices with the addition of carrots.
From 16 weeks, the child hears everything that is happening around him. Of course, this is the voice of my mother, the pounding of her heart and the noise from the movement of blood through the vessels. Loud environmental sounds can also be heard by the baby, but the response to them may vary. So, when listening to classical music, children calm down, and at concerts of rock musicians they "row" and push painfully. After birth, children prefer the voice of the adult whose voice they already know.
Children whose mothers experienced severe stress during pregnancy are born with signs of PTSD.
The emotions that the mother feels are also experienced by the child, since the hormones that are produced by the mother are delivered to the child through the umbilical cord. The child prepares for the fact that when he is born, he will experience the same emotions. If a child receives a lot of the hormone of happiness during pregnancy, he expects the environment to be safe and friendly. Once born, the baby will be calmer, more relaxed, sleep well and eat well. If the hormones of stress and fear came to the baby in utero, then at birth he will expect that the world around him is hostile and dangerous. Once born, the baby will be restless, agitated, sleep poorly and cry a lot.

Knowing all this, scientists thought about how they can positively influence an unborn baby. This is where the various methodology prenatal development child, which we will consider.

Thomas Verney Method

Thomas Verney- the world's leading specialist in the field of prenatal development.

T. Verney says: "Nothing gives a child a more solid foundation in life than the experience of being loved and desired in the womb." He also adds that an important part of the program is peace and harmony in the family... The technique itself consists of several key points.

Mama. The entire program is aimed at improving the emotional well-being of the child by calming and relaxing the mother. This is done to reduce the supply of stress hormones to the child - adrenaline and norepinephrine.

Exercises. Throughout the program, the mother is encouraged to do various exercises to relieve stress and communicate with the baby through sound, emotion and touch.

Sound. Thomas Verney uses music in his exercises to relieve stress from mom and unborn baby. According to his research, it is optimal to listen to relaxing music for an hour at least 2 times a week throughout pregnancy. From the fifth month, singing, talking with the baby and reading aloud to him is recommended. All this contributes to the development of the baby's hearing. And the steady pulse of the mother means peace, safety and love for the child for the child.

Touches. From the sixth month, touching is added to the exercises. Because of the deep connection between movement and emotion, dance is a great way to communicate your feelings to your toddler. Massages and abdominal strokes are also recommended.

Emotions. From seven months, the child becomes receptive to his inner emotional state, and the author recommends communicating with the baby through thoughts and dreams. It also teaches you to breathe deeply and rhythmically in order to deepen the psychological connection with your baby.

Sonatal technique

Sonatal technique existed since 1984 and developed Mikhail Lazarev, professor, doctor of medical sciences. This is a musical method of prenatal child development, in many respects it is similar in essence to the method of Thomas Verney. The Sonatal method has a different focus depending on the gestational age.

1 trimester - biorhythms. The technique forms biorhythms according to which the baby will live after birth.

2nd trimester - movement. When the child begins to move, the mother's physical activity is added: dancing, movements to the rhythm of the music, patting on the tummy.

3rd trimester - "educational"... Mothers read fairy tales to babies, sing specially selected lullabies, little dogs, children's songs. During classes, the mother can influence the baby with sound or depict geometric shapes on the stomach. Also, expectant mothers are engaged in creativity and breathing exercises.

According to the author himself, the effectiveness of the technique is based on the preservation of a larger number of neurons in the baby's brain due to the constant stimulation with light, sound, movement and touch... Such a complex effect is called the "birth matrix". It helps the baby hear basic sounds before birth and relate them to events after birth. Therefore, it is not advisable to quit classes after birth. The methodology has a postpartum continuation, programs for preschool and school child development have been created. Thus, at the moment, the "Sonatal" method is an integral program for the development of a child from conception to 18 years of age.

Tired of the mess in the nursery? Tired of endlessly collecting toys for your child?

Over the years of using the technique, a lot of positive feedback has accumulated. It is important to note that this technique has been approved by the Russian Ministry of Health for widespread use.

More about method "Sonatal" you can find out from this video:

Methodology "BabyPlus "

Methodology Brent Logan, director of the Perinatal Institute of Washington, USA, consists of 16 lessons, each of which is played twice a day for several days. Lessons consist of heart sounds, which are played to the baby for an hour and automatically stop. The rhythm gets faster with each subsequent lesson. The turntable is located on a wide belt, which is attached to the tummy of the expectant mother.

What can this exercise teach your baby? The mother's heartbeat is a constant companion of the child while he is in the stomach, and here another similar sound comes from the outside world. This sound becomes familiar, but then disappears. The child learns to distinguish between these sounds and notices that the new rhythm increases gradually. Parents of more than 100,000 children who have passed BabyPlus program, celebrate the calmness of babies and good concentration after birth.

What method of prenatal development to choose

Each of the techniques has followers all over the world. Studies of children with whom prenatal development classes were conducted showed the following results. They are calmer, sleep better, are more attentive to their environment and surroundings, and their average physical and emotional development is higher than that of their peers. These babies begin to hold their heads earlier, sit and walk, the first words appear already at the 9th month of life. Their intellectual level is higher than that of their peers, in the future they do not suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But most importantly, during all these activities, the expectant mother develops dominant motherhood, she becomes more attentive to herself and the future baby, is constantly in contact with him. And this, in turn, promotes easy pregnancy, gentle childbirth and long-term breastfeeding.

Love your kids and happy motherhood!

If you are thinking about how to develop your child after birth, the materials from the section will help you:

You can also find out about the development of the baby after birth by months:

Prenatal upbringing is the upbringing of a child in the womb, i.e. before his birth. Prenatal education - a fashionable modern medical theory says that a child in the womb, having developed senses, is able to perceive information from the outside world. As a consequence, communication and education of a child can begin even before his birth. At the moment, many courses are open, a lot of literature and articles have been written on the Internet, but the point in this issue is far from put. Investigating this theory (prenatal education), we are faced with a simple logical question, but how can we check the result of our efforts and evaluate it? What, in essence, is prenatal upbringing, can it be attributed to serious medical techniques, or is prenatal upbringing just a psychological distraction of the expectant mother from her own problems? In our article we will try to deal with this issue.

In order to communicate with someone, you must clearly know that this someone is able not only to hear you, but also to understand and assimilate information. Science has now made great strides in determining the capabilities of the fetus at different stages of pregnancy. It is known for certain that a newborn baby has hearing, touch, and can distinguish between tastes and smells. His vision is slightly worse, but in a dark womb he doesn't really need it.

It is very important to understand the time from which the fetus ceases to be a set of cells and begins to acquire the characteristics of a mature human body for prenatal education to be effective. In the process of development, the following changes occur:

At the end of the third week, the heart of the fetus begins to beat;

From nine weeks, the fetus is able to distinguish the taste of the liquid around itself due to the appearance of taste buds on the tongue;

From 10 weeks all baby's skin becomes sensitive;

From 10-11 weeks, the fetus can distinguish touching the surface of the abdomen, react to heat, cold and pain. If you look at his reaction to an ultrasound scan, then a change in facial expressions is clearly noticeable, depending on the sensations experienced;

From the 16th week, hearing develops when prenatal education begins to operate. The fetus begins to distinguish sounds characteristic of the mother's body: heartbeat, peristalsis, circulatory noise. The amniotic fluid makes these sounds muffled. A little later, the baby begins to distinguish (some believe that he will memorize) voices and even individual words, so prenatal education will be effective.

In the period 19-20 weeks, the fetus begins to move actively, the mother feels its activity, which subconsciously pushes her to the first bodily contact through the skin of the abdomen;

By the 24th week, the fetus has well-developed taste, touch, more or less vision, the baby intelligently reacts to contact through the abdominal wall;

By the end of the 8th month, the fetus develops a sense of smell.

Based on these medical data, we can consider the theory of prenatal education of a child (prenatal education). Prenatal education dates back to the 70s of the 20th century. The development of this earliest field of pedagogy and psychology was facilitated by the development of the most modern medical research methods at that time (ultrasound, fiber optics, etc.). These methods (prenatal education) made it possible to monitor the development of the fetus throughout the entire period of pregnancy.

The first method of communication between the expectant mother and the fetus (prenatal education) was developed by the California obstetrician Van de Kar. He believed that simple movements can help a more intense intellectual development of the fetus. The basis was taken of the baby's ability to respond to tactile sensations. The expectant mother for 15-20 minutes produced patting and pressing on the abdomen. At the same time, repeated monosyllabic words were spoken.

Brent Logan, an American prenatal specialist, in the 80s of the 20th century put forward the theory of stimulating the mental development of a child with the help of sound. Pregnant women were given music to listen to, as well as heart rate recordings of varying pitches and frequencies. Listening (like prenatal education) was carried out both through the speakers and through the headphones, with one of the headphones placed on the stomach. At the same time, doctors, using ultrasound, monitored the change in the baby's heart rate and his motor activity.

However, the first element of prenatal education can be called the "singing" maternity hospital of Michel Auden, which existed in France even earlier. In it, future women in labor and fathers were taught choral singing. Such a technique, according to Auden, helped to strengthen the mother's nerves, which subsequently should have a positive effect on the birth of a calm child. Michel Auden also noticed that regular communication between the fetus and the father before giving birth helps the child to recognize the voice of the father immediately after birth.

In Russia, the method of prenatal communication (prenatal education) was developed by Professor Lazarev and received the name "Sonatal" ("sonas" in Latin - "sounding", natus - "born"). Prenatal education was tested in the late 1980s in Moscow, Naberezhnye Chelny, Tambov and many other cities. The technique consisted in stimulating the development of the fetus and the newborn by the method of musical influence. Communication was carried out with the help of special vocal and speech exercises, influenced the motor, emotional and respiratory state of the fetus, and controlled their development.

More detailed studies have shown that the fetus responds well to Mozart and Vivaldi, children's songs and folk music, but with the low and bass sounds of Bach, Liszt and Beethoven, the future baby does not feel very comfortable. If your vocal abilities allow you, then you yourself can sing various children's and lullaby songs for the fetus (prenatal education).

There is also a version that the unborn child, even at the stage of pregnancy, can be taught to a certain sequence of actions before bedtime. To do this, the mother herself must daily follow the sequence of dinner-shower-lullaby-sleep. Such actions (prenatal education) can help the baby to fall asleep more calmly after birth.

Prenatal development is the intrauterine development of the fetus, which also affects mental development (pain, temperature and sensory sensitivity, as well as motor skills develop). Prenatal development is one of the most striking maturation processes. The maturation of the unborn baby takes place in a strictly controlled environment and goes through a series of stages in a strictly defined sequence. But even in the womb, the external environment influences its development. Practically from the moment of conception, the child becomes an element of the situation developing in his environment and, having been born, is by no means a "blank" sheet. Expectations and fears, prosperity and deprivation, stability and turmoil, health and illness in those families where children are to be born, affect not only their future life, but also prenatal development. Despite the fact that childbirth is a genetically programmed sequence of events, the characteristics of the birth of each individual child are determined to a large extent by cultural, historical and family conditions.

The development of embryology, genetics, biochemistry and experimental methods made it possible to get closer to understanding what happens in the embryonic period, but even modern knowledge about intrauterine mental life is fragmentary and scarce.

The heterogeneity of prenatal development is revealed, in particular, in the multidirectional growth of individual organs and systems. For example, in the direction "from head to feet" and / or from the center of the body to its periphery. The variability of prenatal development is clearly manifested in changes in shape and, in particular, in changes in proportions in a growing zygote - embryo - fetus. This is due to the different growth rates in individual tissues, organs and parts of the whole. And the main structural neoplasms of prenatal development unambiguously mark the transition from the germinal stage of development to the embryonic stage and from the embryonic stage to the fetal stage. The completion of the last, fetal stage is marked by childbirth and the transition to perinatal development.

The first month of intrauterine development is the period of the most intensive growth in the life of the organism. The cardiovascular system is already being laid, the heart rate is 65 beats per minute. At this stage, the makings of the brain, kidneys, liver and digestive tract are already present. The umbilical cord, the connecting link between the embryo and the mother, begins to function. It is still impossible to determine the sex of the unborn child, but you can find the eyes that are located on the sides of the head.

By the end of the second month, the growth of the fetus is less than 2.5 cm, and its weight is 2.1 g. The body is disproportionate: the length of the head is equal to half the length of the whole body. Parts of the body are clearly differentiated: faces, rudiments of teeth and tongue appear, the structure of the face of the embryo changes almost daily during the 2nd month; hands and fingers appear on the hands, knees, ankles, and feet appear on the legs. The brain coordinates the functioning of organs. The genitals are developing. The heart rate becomes stable. Digestive juices are produced in the stomach; blood cells are formed in the liver. The fetus begins to respond to stimuli: upon impact, the 8-week-old fetus reacts by flexing the trunk, extending the head, and pulling the arms back.

By the end of the third month, intensive growth and weight of the fetus occurs: the weight reaches 28 g, the height is 7.5 cm. The fetus has nails, eyelids (which are still closed), vocal cords, lips and a protruding nose. In the eyes, the iris forms and all the nerves that connect the eye to the brain. Teeth are formed in the gums, a noticeable growth of the auricles begins. The fetus develops the thyroid, thymus, pancreas and kidneys. The liver begins to function. The future baby has a gastrointestinal system - the small intestine is already capable of contracting and pushing water, from which it receives nutrients. The sex of the unborn child can be easily determined. The organs are already functioning: the fetus can breathe, swallowing amniotic fluid into the lungs and releasing it back, occasionally urination occurs. At the third stage, various reflexes appear: he moves his legs and arms, thumbs and head; the mouth of the fetus opens and closes, makes swallowing movements. When touching the eyelids, the fetus squints, when touching the palm, it partially squeezes the brush into a fist; touching the lips triggers a sucking reflex; when hitting the heels, the toes are unbent.

In the fourth month, the proportionality of the head and body appears. The growth of the fetus is 20-25 cm, weight is about 170 g. The child receives all the nutrients from the placenta. The baby's hair begins to grow. At the 4th month, the body length increases so that the head no longer looks disproportionately large, as in previous months. Lips become visible on the face, and the strength of the heart muscle increases so much that the heart rate begins to equal 120-160 beats per minute. The most significant event at this stage is that the mother begins to feel the movements of the fetus's legs - the first movements. This appears due to the development of the muscular system.,

In the fifth month, the weight of the fetus almost doubles and reaches 340-350 g, and the length is 31 cm. A fatty layer (or subcutaneous fat) begins to form in the child, which is involved in the production of energy and metabolism. Starting this week, the baby begins to react to loud noises, and he is unlikely to like loud sounds. The child's eyes are still closed, but he can already move them up and down. He has eyebrows, fingernails and toenails. The child's body is covered with fine fluffy hair. At this point, the child's movements become stronger and more noticeable. In the 20th week, the organs of taste and smell develop. Thus, at the 5th month, the fetus develops a grasping reflex, the volume and strength of movements increases. Motor activity increases - the fetus is pushed, stretched, etc. The fetus has a special position - presentation. It also stabilizes the change of states like sleep and wakefulness. The respiratory system is not yet adapted to breathing outside the uterus, so babies born at this time usually do not survive.

The sixth month is characterized by the fact that the children born have at least a small chance of survival. The growth rate of the fetus decreases slightly (by the end of the 6th month, the growth is about 35 cm), but the weight of the child begins to increase (by the end of the 6th month, the weight is about 560 g) due to the appearance of subcutaneous adipose tissue. The development of the eyes ends: they close, open and turn in all directions. The fetus is already able to hear, cry, clench its hand strongly into a fist. The baby's digestive system is developed so that he can already swallow amniotic fluid. Together with it, the main amount of nutrients enters the child's body. Scientists believe that swallowing amniotic fluid contributes to the growth and development of the fetal digestive system. At this time, 2 layers of skin are formed: the epidermis and the dermis. The epidermis is responsible for the formation of a skin pattern on the pads of the fingers, palms, and feet, which is determined genetically. The dermis, located under the epidermis, forms outgrowths that contain nerve endings and blood vessels. The baby's skin during this period is wrinkled, covered on top with original lubricant - a fatty substance that protects the skin from the effects of amniotic fluid. Sweat glands begin to work, lungs are formed, but so far they cannot work on their own. Skin sensitivity develops more fully, a reaction to sound appears. The eyes are fully formed, the eyelids may already be opening. At 6 months, the baby's head and torso become more and more proportional. There is an intensive development of the skeletal system, the growth of hair on the head continues, and the fetus begins to straighten. Also, the baby is becoming more emotional and mobile. He can already get angry, worry, express his displeasure - he knows how to tense the muscles around his eyes and wrinkle his lips, depicting a cry or a smile. An event that deserves special attention during the second trimester is brain development. The brain is enlarged 6 times.,

In the seventh month, the formation of the respiratory apparatus is completed: in a fetus weighing 1.5 kg, the chances of survival are high, subject to intensive medical measures. By the end of the period, the growth of the fetus is about 40 cm, weight is from 1.4 to 2.3 kg. The facial features are already fully formed. The kid distinguishes well between sounds and what is happening in the world around him. Distinguishes voices, noises, listens to music. Sounds that are too harsh scare him. At about the 26th week, the baby opens his eyes for the first time, they are already fully formed and can perceive light. At 27 weeks, the fetus sometimes turns its head towards the light shining on the mother's abdomen. If anything, a brain scan confirms that it is responding to light. In addition, the baby sees the vague outlines of his hands and umbilical cord. At the 28th week, the taste buds of the tongue are formed in the child. The mass of the brain increases, characteristic grooves and convolutions begin to appear on it. The child is actively recovering - this is due to an increase in the volume of subcutaneous tissue. At 7 months of age, the fetal nervous system matures enough to control breathing and swallowing. The baby already feels touch and pain; perhaps his vestibular apparatus begins to work.

In the eighth month of development, there is an intensive formation of adipose tissue, and the weight increases to 3.4 kg. with a height of 50 cm. The efficiency of various body systems and heart rate increases. The child is gaining strength, saving up fat, preparing for an independent life. There is less and less space for him, so he is gradually determined with his constant position in the mother's stomach. The kidneys and bladder of the child are actively working. During this period, the child coughs and hiccups. Almost all wrinkles disappear in the baby. The hair on the head becomes thicker. Around the 30th week, the child practices trying to focus his gaze. At the 8th month, the fetus can gain weight up to 200 g per week. It is possible that from the 32nd week, the baby begins to realize what is happening, because many neural systems of the brain had already been formed by this time. Brain scans show the presence of rest periods, which look like REM sleep.

With the transition to the 9th month of prenatal development, the fetus establishes daily cycles of sleep and wakefulness and, as it is believed, the development of hearing is completed. The kid was rounded, his skin became pink and smooth. The nails have grown and are beginning to protrude beyond the toes. The child's face becomes plump, round cheeks appear. The child continues to suck his thumb in the womb - he trains the sucking muscles. The baby's head may already descend into the pelvic region, preparing for childbirth in advance.

The child is gaining 220 g every week. The child continues to gain weight in recent weeks. All organs and systems of the child have already developed and are in place. The child has developed reflexes that help him perform grasping movements, blink, close his eyes, move his legs, raise and lower his head. During this time, there is an improvement in vision and eye coordination, as well as the formation of brain functions. Last but not least, the lungs and respiratory system develop.

In addition to the above, from the point of view of psychology, the following scientifically established facts are essential. At 15 weeks, the fetus makes grasping movements, frowns, moves eyes, grimaces. Irritation of the soles or eyelids causes reflex movements. From the 20th week, the organs of taste and smell work, from the 24th week, skin and auditory sensitivity is clearly expressed, and from the 25th week the reaction to sound is stable. At 27 weeks, the fetus is found to turn its head towards a light source directed at the mother's abdomen. And brain reactions to light are confirmed by brain scans. All behavioral neoplasms by the end of the 7th month (facial expressions, kicking, turning the body and head) are interpreted by researchers as "voluntary movements of the fetus, striving to take a comfortable position in the womb." In the middle of the 8th month, the eyes open, and the fetus can see its hands and its surroundings, although it is dark inside the uterus. At the 32nd week, many neural systems of the brain are formed, and its scanning indicates the presence of periods of paradoxical sleep. On this basis, an assumption is made about the possibility of dreams. At the 9th month, daily cycles of sleep and wakefulness are established; it is assumed that at the same time the formation of the auditory system is completed in the fetus.

Thus, over a period of approximately 9 months, the initially unicellular zygote normally develops up to 10 trillion cells, organized into organs and systems. Thus, in the third trimester, the child develops preferences for various types of sound stimulation: the mother's voice, her heartbeat, musical and speech phrases, songs, melodies, poetry, selectivity develops for the cultural characteristics of food. Positive maternal emotions have a beneficial effect on the development of not only sensing, but also the prerequisites for intrauterine self-awareness. By the 6th month of pregnancy (by the 25th week), the child is able to translate sensations into emotions, the inner reality of the baby begins to form under the influence of emotional information from the mother.

Life begins several months earlier than physical birth, from the moment of fertilization. But it is not so easy to answer the question from what moment the embryo really is a person, or at least a creature with a functioning psyche.

At present, the problems of prenatal development are being actively discussed in developmental psychology. (Development that occurs before birth, intrauterine development of the fetus; intrauterine evolution of the fetus) Prenatal wailing is an area of research into the development of the psyche of a child before birth.

For a long time, psychology and philosophy did not single out a special subject of study in the phenomena of the intrauterine life of a person. The mental life of an infant in the mother's womb was conceived as a total psychological indivisibility and indissoluble bodily unity. "The expulsion from the mother's womb" marks the beginning of the individualized development of an independent individual, during which a passionate desire to return to what has remained in memory in the form of an oceanic image unity with the mother (5, 9, 35).

The emergence and development of prenatal practices (both upbringing and psychotherapy) is based on changes in public consciousness that have occurred and are taking place recently.

There are at least three levels at which these changes occur:

At the philosophical and worldview level, there was a recognition of the subjectivity of the unborn child. As H. Rolston III notes, "now we look more broadly than before at who should be considered a real person ... Now we determine the moral status of the fetus in the womb" (17, p. 273); awareness of responsibility for the future, which depends on action or inaction in the present (1);

At the medical and social level, a crisis is revealed in obstetrics and gynecology, where technological improvement does not lead either to a reduction in perinatal pathology, or to an increase in the mother's attachment to her child. Problems of "abandoned" children, abortion, child abuse and other problems based on negative experiences with the mother in infancy have not been resolved;

At the level of specific sciences, there was a shift in interest from infancy (the peak of this interest was in the 1970s) to intrauterine life, knowledge about it is accumulating, obtained both within the framework of natural sciences (embryology, histology - 3, 4), in psychology, in particular , in psychoanalysis and micropsychoanalysis (32, 38).

Thus, a new special direction appeared - prenatal pedagogy, the task of which is to organize the most useful external influences for intrauterine mental development. Within the framework of this science, it was proved that from the moment of conception, the biological (physical) and psychoemotional development of a person proceeds in parallel. Each person is unique from the moment of conception.

Traditionally, three stages of prenatal development are distinguished:

The stage of the embryo (from fertilization to implantation of the egg into the wall of the uterus - about 2 weeks);

The stage of the embryo (from the 20th week to the 7th week of pregnancy, when the most important organs are laid);

Fetal stage (8 weeks before birth).

During 1 period, the fertilized egg divides by copying itself many times. Then the cells begin to differentiate, their functions are specialized to form the basic structures of a living organism.

During stage 2, the embryo takes on the form of differentiation of organs and cells, they begin to perform specific functions, the formation of limbs, fingers and main sensory organs occurs. By the beginning of 8 weeks, the embryo reaches 25 mm in length. In the embryonic period, the unborn child is most susceptible to damage to various viruses.

Stage 3 coincides with the formation of the foundations of the NS, from 12 weeks the fetus already takes on a human form. By 16 weeks. - 15 - 16 cm, by 23 weeks. The fetus has a sleep-wake cycle that is synchronized with that of the mother.

Until recently, there was no real opportunity to study the behavior of a normally developing fetus. In the 70s of the 20th century, it became possible to safely observe the movements of the fetus using ultrasound scanning. Until recently, there was an opinion that the fetus is deaf and dumb, that it does not see or feel anything, does not have memory and thinking. At the same time, today, new research methods have allowed scientists to look, come to visit an unborn child.

What is the main content of a child's life in the womb?

Physical development of the child during the mother's pregnancy

The growth of the fetus is at a tremendous pace. At the 12th week, the fetus reaches only 9 cm in length, at the 20th - 20 cm, at the 28th - 35 cm.At the 40th week, from crown to toe, its growth is on average 50 cm. Studies have shown that that by the fifth week the embryo can move its arms and body, expressing its pleasure and displeasure with nods and grimaces. By the fourth month, he develops facial expressions: he can smile and frown. After a few weeks, he already reacts to any touch: this is why it is so important for the mother and loved ones to stroke the belly so that the child perceives the affection.

From 6 weeks of age, the fetus develops sensitivity to light: he is worried about the light directed directly at the mother's abdomen. Neurological studies have confirmed that between the 28th and 30th weeks, the baby develops pathways that transmit signals from the brain to various parts of the body. At the same time, the cerebral cortex is becoming quite mature.

Mental development of the child during pregnancy

Mom is the first universe of the child. Now it is not a secret for anyone that the child leads an active life in the mother's belly: he moves, sucks his finger, turns his head to the source of sounds interesting to him, "plays" with the umbilical cord. Everything that a mother does is passed on to the child in one way or another. After all, mother is the child's first universe, his "living raw material base" both from a material and from a psychological point of view.

For example, the taste of amniotic fluid changes depending on what mom ate. Many fetal reactions are related to the mother's condition. The child makes convulsive movements when the mother is worried, makes a grimace of displeasure when the mother is injected with medications. The child at the hormonal level experiences all the states of the mother.

The information that comes from the mother is very important for the baby. This is a prerequisite for the development of the brain. It should be noted that now the versions are being put forward that it is during the prenatal period that basic trust or distrust in the world begins to form, this is based on information coming to the child from the mother. Psychoanalyst Dr. Silvio Fangi in his book "Micropsychoanalysis" expresses the opinion that the sources of all human problems arise long before his birth. The relationship between mother and child during pregnancy, he called "intrauterine war", which ends after the birth of the child and can resume with renewed vigor if the mother hurts her child. Man is a paradoxical creature

American psychologists believe that "life begins not with birth, but with conception." Consequently, what a person experiences, starting from conception, will have a significant impact on his physical and psychological development. Research in pre- and postnatal psychology has shown that music has a tremendous stimulating effect on the cognitive, emotional and psychomotor development of both the unborn and newborn child. If a pregnant woman listens with pleasure to gentle, affectionate music, then this, in some way (not yet completely understood by psychologists), affects the fetus, and after birth, children react more actively to the music that they have already "heard" before birth.

Today there are many different programs for the education of the unborn child, which, according to the inventors, make it possible to give birth to "emotionally balanced children" with a high level of IQ. These children are more active, smile, sit up, walk and talk earlier, and have a deeper bond of love with their parents.

Neurologists say that a sharp increase in heart rate (up to 130-140 beats per minute) in some kind of conflict situation is short-lived, that is, if a woman quickly copes with her emotions, then the child will most likely be emotionally stable after birth. A mother who avoided anxiety during pregnancy in every possible way may do her child a disservice - he simply will not be able to withstand stress. During a period of emotional release, it is best to put your hand on your stomach, stroke, talk to your child. After all, already at 4 months he is able to perceive all the feelings of the mother, therefore, the more interesting and richer her life, the better the brain and nervous system of the fetus develop.

Logical thinking and ability for languages, according to American researchers, are formed from the 4th month of pregnancy until the beginning of the third year of life. Therefore, the more words in different languages he will hear during this period, the easier the baby will be able to master the wisdom of foreign speech in the future.

The susceptibility to noise in the intrauterine state is quite high. On the one hand, with sharp, loud sounds, the fetus experiences not only fear, but also a worsening of the condition: it feels pain, the pulse quickens, it seems to be compressed (this can explain the miscarriages and premature births that followed after an unnecessarily noisy showdown). On the other hand, gentle melodic music has a beneficial effect on the fetus: the child "dances" to it, and then, as numerous experiments have shown, he retains the ability to recognize the melody he likes.

Outstanding prenatal psychologist, Doctor of Medicine Thomas Verney showed that already four months after conception, a child hears well, reacts to a sound, recognizes a melody. Turn on Vivaldi and even the most restless child will relax. Turn on Beethoven, and even the calmest will start tossing and turning and pushing with their feet.

Audiologist Michelle Clemente< в результате своих исследований пришла к выводу, что у ребенка до рождения есть своя любимая и нелюбимая музыка. Одни из любимых композиторов еще не родившихся детей - Вивальди, Моцарт. А музыка Брамса, Бетховена и все виды рок-музыки, наоборот, приводят их в волнение. Возможно, если вы будете давать слушать музыку вашему еще не родившемуся ребенку, у него возникнет глубокий интерес к ней на всю жизнь.

It is due to the fact that the child inside the mother not only develops physically, but is already a feeling and emotionally responsive being, that the emotional climate in the family is so important, the main goal of which is pacification, benevolence, patience and joyful expectation of a new person.