Growing into a fully formed human being is a long process, and scientists have found that unborn babies not only hiccup, swallow and stretch in the womb, they yawn too.

Researchers who studied 4D scans of 15 healthy fetuses also said they think yawning is a developmental process which could potentially give doctors a new way to check on a baby's health.

While some scientists have previously suggested that fetuses yawn, others disagree and say it is nothing more than a developing baby opening and stretching its mouth.

But writing in the journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday, British researchers said their study was able to clearly distinguish yawning from "non-yawn mouth opening" based on how long the mouth was open.

The researchers did this by using 4D video footage to examine all the times when fetuses opened their mouths.

Nadja Reissland of Durham University's department of Psychology, who led the study, said the function and importance of yawning in fetuses is still unknown, but the findings suggest it may be linked to fetal development and could provide a further indication of the health of the unborn baby.

"Unlike us, fetuses do not yawn contagiously, nor do they yawn because they are sleepy," she said. "Instead, the frequency of yawning in the womb may be linked to the maturing of the brain early in gestation."

The study was carried out on eight female and seven male fetuses from 24 to 36 weeks gestation. The researchers found that yawning declined from 28 weeks and that there was no significant difference in how often boys and girls yawned.

Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/21/us-foetus-yawn-idUSBRE8AK1HG20121121

No pics? Woulda loved to see how a yawning fetus looks like

this pic looks somehow

4d scan or 1d scan ?

O ga ooo

This western people sef.

May God bless this beautiful baby. I love children!

God na baba o!

dats wonderful.HAPPY THANKSGIVING every one thats wondeful.HAPPY THANKSGIVING every one

Cute baby

A 2D scan goes for abt 3k while a 4D scan goes for about 10 to 15k. Not usually medically recommended unless its a high risk sitaution.

Na true ooo, I already knew that unborn babies yawn nah, they even cough, sneeze, punch, kick, hiss, give the finger. There are so many things they do, no be today nah. So these Doctors feel they have discovered one big thing, mtcheeew!!! Its common sense that nobody not even an unborn child can sit still in one place for up to nine months nah.
BTW, Mad Cow: you are right, that child is ugly. If we see truth, make we dey talk am for life is too short

Dt baby is gonna b baerd gan. He might evn do more dn adolph hitler

3D or 4D is the latest technology in ultrasound scanning machine it produces the facial features and movements of the baby,it might be possible that during scanning the baby may yawn and once it happens it show on the screen of the machine which could be freezed or muted.the printer can produce the picture of the baby for verification,it doesnt ve potentials to show the beauty of ur babies.

@ Fhemmmy, an AWESOME GOD indeed!

Isnt that marvelous? That means they get tired 4rm time to time

Ofcuz they do, you would too if u werew stuck in that boring dark place, nothing to do but just wait for 9 long months awaiting delivery

for der small mind dem don discover sumtin

I understand that the womb is filled with amniotic fluid during pregnancy. Does it mean babies swallow copious amounts of amniotic fluid whenever they open their mouth to yawn?

Oghenemarho-God is great

Jst like in the movie '3idiots'(indian movie)...maybe the researchers were saying 'all is well' when the research gets tough they will say 'all is well'...and the fetus will yawn

Well,a clue could be obtain from researching on those factors that make us yawn. These factors can also be found in the fetal environment.
Or it culd jst be that the baby swallows amniotic fluid as they usually do.

I saw similar thing earlier dis year in 3D........bt dint give it much attention, well tnx to d researchers, am learning more.....