Crying in utero

"I heard the baby cry this week," the prenatal patient remarked casually as I took her blood pressure.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I was lying on the couch reading a book after dinner, when I heard the baby crying," she explained, gesturing towards her belly. "For about a minute." She reported this in the same offhand way in which she had mentioned her heartburn earlier.

Of course I was skeptical. Crying is an inspiration followed by a series of convulsive expirations, where sound is produced by the air causing the vocal folds to vibrate. But there is no air in utero. The fetus 'breathes' amniotic fluid.

I generated some possible explanations. Maybe the sound was borborygmi. The television. A neighbour. The cat. A hallucination (I didn't suggest that one outright).

But the patient was adamant. She knew what she heard, and it was her baby crying in the womb.

The strange thing is, I've heard this story from patients before.

And so I did a bit of research, and found that ultrasonic evidence of crying behaviour in utero in the third trimester is well-documented in the medical literature. And the Discovery Channel has this remarkable video of a fetus crying:

However, the 'crying' refers to the series of motor events that occur. Not the sound. If there weren't an ultrasound probe letting us peek into the uterus, there'd be no indication a baby was bawling in there. It's inaudible.

There is one rare scenario where a mother can hear her unborn baby crying: vagitus uterinus. Literally "squalling uterus," the phenomenon is the audible crying of the fetus in utero when the membranes have ruptured and air has entered the uterus.

The British Medical Journal published a letter describing the phenomenon in 1933, by Dr. Matthiasson of Iceland, who attended a birth in 1908 where he, the midwife and the medical student witnessed uterine crying in a labouring woman: ". . . there was no doubt as to the origin of the crying. It sounded pitiful, and was much like the crying of a newborn child hidden under . . . an eiderdown."

I wonder how that would be for the mother - terribly bizarre, or a wonderful motivator?

It would certainly make for the best labour and delivery story ever.

Comments

[JeanMac]

I think that would break a mother's heart to hear when in labor.Fascinating post and info.

[Amy Hoogstad]

That video is amazing! I would think it would be terribly bizarre for me, and I think it would cause me to panic rather than motivate me. But, hard to say in this highly unlikely scenario!

[Nicole]

That is so interesting!! There's so much we don't know about the baby inutero, and this doesn't surprise me. We do know that babies feel pain, so they would respond to that in some way, right? Fascinating!!

[Peggikaye]

I lost one baby girl at 20 weeks. I have two sons, now 18 and 16. I am so glad that I did not know that they could cry in untero, it would have totally unnerved me! Especially with the little girl we lost!

[Amy D]

I heard my baby cry last night in the middle of the night. I tried to call the father to wake him so he could listen too, but he didn't get up (i was sleeping on elevated sofa in another room). The only thing that I could think is air somehow got into the uterus. I have been really sick and coughing so much I pee. It was right around one of my coughing fits too. at first I thought it was our other baby, but I realized it was coming from me. I know this sounds crazy but I swear it's what I heard. lasted about 1-2 mins total..including other wimpering typed noises.

[ngonzi hope]

wow that's interesting and somehow scary if it happened to me. tho it could be true that it actually happens since other rare things like hiccups also do happen in pregnancy

[Eva Lye]

My mom swears she heard me cry in utero. It must have spooked the bajeebeez out of her, because our relationship has never been quite right. Coming from a superstitious culture, she probably thought me the devil's spawn. LOL! Thank goodness, I can now assure her it was probably just "squalling uterus" phenomenon. Of course I'm still trying to figure out how to explain the two little bumps on the top of my head and my ever so slightly protruding coccyx.

[King]

I heard my baby in my womb cried these few days, I usually heard he cried in the morning and in the evening when it is quiet. this morning i heard he cried few times and also this afternoon. I heard it from my right ear. When I told My husband, he say maybe because I think too much but I know it is not. It is the sound of my baby crying because every time after I hear him crying he will move hard in my womb. I know not everyone can have this experience. To me it is a really amazing experience which I will never forget that sound.

[Nicle]

I have woke up to the sound of a baby crying twice. Both times I was laying on my right side. Believe it or nothing I turn over and rub my belly and tell baby everything is okay them the crying stop!

[Vee Tee]

I also hear a whooshing noise in my left ear I know its from the increased blood flow but lately in my 37th week, my doc said this is normal--i didnt tell her about the baby cry I hear this high pitched noise it sounded like a baby faintly, I thought maybe I was imagining it waking up from a nap but it is becoming more and more frequent; my theory is maybe the same waves that make me hear my bloood flow from ear maybe it carried the sound waves of the baby in utero and I pick it up in my ear; one time I heard it cooing it was the cutest sweetest thing ever, I was wide awake too, it only lasts a minute at a time but sometimes the high pitched noise can last quite a long time