'The severest forms of human pain" [ have their origin in ] ". . .the suffering that comes from the distress of the foetus in the womb when the mother herself is distressed . . . these first three months after conception hold more ups and downs, more ecstasies and devastations that we had ever imagined'
Frank Lake, M.D

In this scientific age babies have had, and still do have, a difficult time getting us to accept them as individuals who experience real feelings and genuine emotional needs.
Over the years, in scientific attempts discover the extent to which newborn babies feel, The’ve had their limbs immersed in hot and cold water, their wrists pricked with pins while asleep, they’ve been lanced with needles on their cheeks, thighs and calfs, starved, dropped and caught, and had various parts of their bodies held in restraint.
Because there is still some insistence that the immaturity of the brain makes it impossible for babies to experience and remember pain, some hospitals and medical practices continue to resist integrating 'what babies know' into their daily practices and protocol.

While many professionals still tend to believe what they have been taught, most mothers and fathers however, know intuitively when their baby is undergoing a painful experience. Babies know pain, physical and emotional, of this there is now no doubt, and many babies have been, and will continue to be, traumatised by painful pre and post natal experiences.
Invasive procedures of contemporary neonatology and obstetrics can create many conditions that can cause babies pain. Babies born prematurely who spend time in incubators are likely to suffer from the absence of their mothers and more than normal invasive procedures. Even a normal birth in a hospital can be a painful experience for a baby, when routine protocols involves the premature cutting of the umbilical cord and removal of the baby from the mother, wiping, washing, suctioning and weighing, all disturbing experiences for a newborn child.

'...disturbing practices are all performed with the confidence that babies will not care, will not remember, and will not be harmed by these traumas. The trauma of pain is simply not taken seriously. No matter how hard babies kick, cry, and scream........'David B. Chamberlain, Ph.D

Between twenty eight and thirty two weeks gestation the neural circuits in the unborn babies brain are as advanced as in a newborn and the cerebral cortex is now mature enough to support consciousness. What this means is that from at least twenty eight to thirty two weeks en utero the unborn baby can feel and remember.

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