- The fetal period from 9 weeks of gestation until birth is the most eventful for growth and development. The fetus is not just a passive recipient of genes but actively responds to environmental cues. - The germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods each involve major developmental milestones as organs form and the fetus grows. The brain and senses develop throughout pregnancy, allowing the fetus to learn, respond to stimuli, and be influenced by the intrauterine environment. - Research increasingly shows the importance of the prenatal environment and suggests experiences in the womb can impact later health, behavior, learning, and potentially the intergenerational transmission of traits. Both nature and nurture play a role in fetal development.

1. FETAL PSYCHOLOGY
Dr Nitika Sobti
Founder – Virtue Baby
Sr. Consultant ( Obstetrics and Gynaecology)
Max Super Speciality Hospital
Shalimar Bagh

2. Of all our existence,
the 9 months we live ,the womb is the
most eventful for our growth and
development.

3. “The history of man for the
nine months preceeding
his birth would be far
more interesting and
contain greater moments
of excitement than all the
years that follow it”
Peter Harper: Director Fetal Behaviour
Research Centre, Queens University, Belfast

4. CLASSICAL VIEW: develop from a blueprint from the parents genes---
healthy baby
Not any more !! Dr Pathik Wadhwa ( univ. of Kentucky college of
Med )
At each stage : organism uses cues from the environment to decide
how best to construct itself within the given parameters of the
genes

5. Duration of Prenatal Periods
1. Germinal period
(single-cell zygote  morula  blastocyst)
– Conception to attachment (8-10 days later)
2. Embryonic period (embryo)
– Attachment to end of 8th week (when all major organs
have taken primitive shape)
Basic organ system formation
3. Fetal period (fetus)
– 9th week (with first hardening of the bones) until birth
Growth and maturation

6. Germinal Period
Fallopian tube
Uterine wall

7. Embryonic Period
• Begins with implantation and lasts for about
6 weeks
– Basic organs formed; sexual differentiation
occurs
– Organism begins to respond to direct stimulation
(e.g., will turn its head in response to a light
touch around the mouth)
• Developmental patterns
– Cephalocaudal: Proceeds from head down
– Proximodistal: From middle of organism out
to the periphery

8. Fetal Period
Begins with skeletal
ossification
From week 8/9 until birth
From 1¼  20 inches
From 8  3250 grams

9. Fetal Development
• 10th week: Intestines in place; breathing and jaw-opening
movements
• 12th week: Sexual characteristics; well-defined neck;
sucking and swallowing movements
• 16th week: Head erect and lower limbs well-developed
• 5th month: As many nerve cells as it will ever have
• 7th month: Eyes open and lungs capable of breathing
• 8th month: Many folds of the brain present
• 9th month: Brain more convoluted
• Fetus doubles in weight in final weeks before birth

10. Germinal Period: Key Concepts
“It is all in the
genes”
or
Epigenetics ????
Interactions between the cells and
their environment generate the
new cell forms and emergence of
body organs
Patterns established in the womb
Influenced by maternal diet / psychological
state/ environment of the womb

11. MYTHS ABOUT FETUS
BABIES DO NOT FEEL - even if they feel they will not remember
later.
Babies do not think, are without consciousness-
Very limited brains – brain is unable of superior functions as
thinking, meaning atribution or memory. Myelination only
completed during adolescen, it only works when it’s
completed?
Age myth – we see all age groups diferent from our own, as
inferiors in all levels: embryo, fetus, newborn, child, teenager
or elderly
Chamberlain, the mind of your newborn baby, 1998

12. FETAL BRAIN
• A 3mm neural tube will grow into a whole brain
containining 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion
connections
• Proliferation( production of new neurons) starts at 5wks
continues upto 18mths of age
• Precursor cells give rise to neurons which migrate to
specific brain areas which perform specific functions.
• The developing brain sheds innumerable excess neurons,
dendrites and synaptic connections ( pruning), which is
under environmental control.

13. Parts and functions of fetal brain
• Brainstem – fashioned around 33rd day of gestation ,matures
completes myelination by 7th gestational month.
1. Medulla- controls gross body movement, HR, respiration and head
turning. Spon movement by 7thwk, first breath by 10thwk
2. Pons- controls the vibratory acoustic perception, head turning and FHR
acceleration
• Forebrain – develops at term and over the following weeks and months
- Generates high order cognitive activity and purposeful behaviour which is
responsible for expression and experience of true emotions

14. FETAL BEHAVIOUR AND COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Fetus is capable of considerable behavioural complexity
• Complex actions are mediated by brainstem with
minimal forebrain participation as similar behaviours are
demonstrted by anencephalics
• Actions like head turning, eye movements , crying,
screaming smiling are complex behaviours which are also
mediated through brainstem
• Thus brainstem also appears capable of learning related
activity and cognitive ability

15. “When a mother is extremely stressed during pregnancy , she produces
hormones called glucorticoids that cross the placenta to the baby and can
alter the development of kidney and heart”
Dr Karen Moritz: Univ. of Queensland

16. Fetal Investigation
• Historically, fetal research was merely about physical evolution,
because the mechanisms of prenatal consciousness - and the
means to measure them – were not thought to exist.
• William James in 1981 first described developmental fetal
psychology increase in our knowledge of the sensory ability of the
fetus and its consciousness and how the internal and external
factors combine to influence the developing child from birth
• Association For Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology and Health,
APPPAH, founded in 1983.

17. Centre of natural neuroscinces NI H- Dr Brian G
Dias and Dr Kerry Ressler stated
‘We have a mind that is a composite of our
experiences, our ancestors experiences and
what we are taught within the womb.
Each generation tells the next to unconsciously
avoid what is unfamiliar and fearful
Such a phenomenenmay contribute to the
etiology and potential transgenerational
transmission of neuropsychiatric disorders ,
phobias and anxiety.’

18. Studies
• Dutch Hunger Winter 1998 – Susser
- Suggests debilitating effects on nervous system due to famine exposure
in utero leading to increased psychiatric risk( schizophrenia)
• Subsequent work in China in 2008- ST CLAIR gave similar results
• Costello et al 2007
- Population sample of 1400 boys and girls b/w 9-16 yrs in N.Carolina
( who had some adverse situation prenatally)
- Adolescent depression 4 times higher in girls who were LBW
7 times higher in boys who were any birth wt
- The rate of depression increased with additional adverse situation
Possible alteration of physiological responses to stress involving the HPA
axis

19. WOMB : A CLASSROOM
UTERUS : SENSORY PLAYGROUND

20. Fetal Senses
Touch
THE FIRST SENSE TO DEVEL`OP.
* BEFORE 8 WEEKS – MOVEMENTS TO AVOID THE TOUCH
OF A HAIR ON THE CHEEK;
* 10 W – SENSIBILITY IN THE GENITAL AREA;
* 11 W– PALMS
* 12 W – SOLES;
* 17 W - ABDOMEN AND BUTTOCKS;
* 32 W – WHOLE BODY IS SENSITIVE TO THE SOFT
TOUCH OF A HAIR

21. FETAL SENSES
TASTE AND SMELL
* 11 - 15 W – NOSE DEVELOPS, ODOURS BECOME AVAILABLE IN THE
FLUIDS BATHING THE NASAL CAVITY
• 14 W – THE STRUCTURES OF TASTE ARE COMPLETED – SWALLOW
MORE WITH SWEET TASTES
• 120 odours in amniotic fluid
Changes in FHR and breathing movement when mother drank coffee
( caff vs decaff)
Newborns are drawn to the odour of breastmilk though they have no previous
experience with it
MORE CHANCES OF EARLY COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION. FOOD PREFERENCES
(COMMON AND LEARNED).

22. Vivette Glover: Imperial college , London
“The newborn when it hears music that its
has heard when it was still in the womb
eats more, sleeps more and cries less– not
because they have received any special
treatment but because powerful links
were created through love and music”

23. “Sleep better , are more alert to their environment and
surroundings and are far more content than who did
not receive any prenatal stimulation”
Thomas Verny, Rene Vande Carr
Children who are “bathed” in music do better in maths
and reading
Janellen H. : univ of chicago- Musica Prenatal,
scientific discoveries

24. Fetal Learning
Learning and memory are interlocked
EVIDENCE
1. Twins develop habits and gestures at 20wks
2. Parents – Kick game
3. Mothers read The Cat in a Hat by Dr.
Seuss, 2x/day for last 1½ months of
pregnancy
• Method: Changes in rate of sucking turned on
or off a tape recorder of mother reading (half
read that story, the other half another story)
• Finding: Infants modified their rates of sucking
in the direction that produced the familiar story
4. Babies learn their native language before birth
5. Traumatic experiences in the NICU
6. Babies learn their mothers emotional state
Australian study- 20mt film segment DeCasper & Spence, 1986

25. Newer concepts- Prenatal parenting
(cont)
• Parents pass more than genes to their offspring
• Child may be inflicted with specific genetic defects , degree of defect’s
expression is highly variable
• Maternal effects add a powerful avenue
1. Material content- nutrition, toxins, smoking, alcohol, drugs e
2. Information content
- Perceived attitudes about life
- Mother emotions fear ,anger, love, hope can biochemically alter gene
expression
MOA

27. THANK YOU