LONDON - 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
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