Zenit has a very interesting interview with an Italian neonatologist, on the sensory perceptions of children in the womb.
Nuggets:
This will serve to recognize the maternal milk, which has a taste and smell similar to the amniotic fluid which for nine months has soaked its tongue and lips....
Research was published in Pediatrics in 2001 which showed that at the moment of weaning the child prefers tastes that it perceived in the uterus in a certain period, although these tastes were not given to it during lactation. Therefore the fetus has memory.
Can anybody out there explain how a child would perceive the taste of something that comes to him through the umbilical cord? This sounds very interesting, and I can certainly believe that a child can recall those tastes and scents, but how do these tastes go from food that a mother has eaten through the digestive process and down the umbilical cord?
Anyway, more from the interview:
But it exercises itself for life in the open air: It does breathing exercises constantly, even when immersed in the amniotic fluid, and attempts have been registered to emit sounds visualizing the vocal cords.
It has hiccups and makes faces as though smiling or crying. Its movements respond to phases of calm or movement of the mother, and also of the amount of sugar the mother eats...
[T]he fetus is already a new member of the family and company for the mother even before being born.
Thanks to Brandon for the link.
The flavor molecules (esters and so on) are small enough to pass into the blood stream, cross the placenta, and be incorporated into the amniotic fluid. Ditto the milk. I am not talking about sweet/salty/bitter etc, but more about the aromatic molecules like the ones that makes garlic garlicky, etc.