Babies yawn in the womb

[egb_hibs]

Cute wee video this;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2012/nov/21/foetus-yawns-womb-video

However I am puzzled, and maybe SKII or Stirling can help out. I thought people yawned when tired to get more oxygen into their system so as to pep them up a bit.

But surely a baby in the womb gets their oxygen via the umbilical cord, so why would they yawn?

 

[SKII]

Pandiculation (which is the technical term for this reflex) does involve an exaggerated inhalation of air that we all associate with the kind of yawning we all do on a daily basis. However, there appears to be a connection with this reflex and brain temperature regulation, brain development in foetuses and a potential link with pre-natal anaemia - unborn babies with iron deficiency apparently yawn more than ones who don't.

There is a suite of research looking at the yawning of unborn babies where, as you point out, the oxygen intake (and CO2 output) of the baby does not happen as it would once born. Yawning is very similar to simply stretching the upper body. As with stretching, there is an increase in blood pressure and heart rate when we/they yawn and it is this that seems to be the focus of the scientists attention - that this may be linked in some way to the development of the brain. The frequency of yawning in unborn children appears to correlate with their gestational stage.

The development of 4D ultrasound seems to have opened up many avenues in terms of this kind of research but also with regard to investigating when babies start to be capable of making facial expressions etc. The wonders of technology, eh?

 

[hibbybilly]

They also wave when you take their pics

View attachment 3762

:bye

 

[Jack]

Pandiculation (which is the technical term for this reflex) does involve an exaggerated inhalation of air that we all associate with the kind of yawning we all do on a daily basis. However, there appears to be a connection with this reflex and brain temperature regulation, brain development in foetuses and a potential link with pre-natal anaemia - unborn babies with iron deficiency apparently yawn more than ones who don't.

There is a suite of research looking at the yawning of unborn babies where, as you point out, the oxygen intake (and CO2 output) of the baby does not happen as it would once born. Yawning is very similar to simply stretching the upper body. As with stretching, there is an increase in blood pressure and heart rate when we/they yawn and it is this that seems to be the focus of the scientists attention - that this may be linked in some way to the development of the brain. The frequency of yawning in unborn children appears to correlate with their gestational stage.

The development of 4D ultrasound seems to have opened up many avenues in terms of this kind of research but also with regard to investigating when babies start to be capable of making facial expressions etc. The wonders of technology, eh?

I could have told him that but he never asked me :coffee: