Why do babies yawn in the womb?

Why do babies yawn in the womb? You may wonder this as babies aren't actually breathing air in the womb because they are surrounded by amniotic fluid.

During the second and third trimester babies will yawn frequently and we will often capture this during a 4D scan. It is, as you may think, extremely cute to see. 

Studies undertaken at Durham and Lancaster Universities suggested that when babies begin to mature in the womb towards the end of the pregnancy, yawning frequency does tend to decrease, usually after 28 weeks. The actual reason for yawning appears to have remained unclear, but it was suggested that the yawning may be related to a maturing central nervous system. A Psychologist, who specialises in fetal development  at Durham  University noted that it could be a way to stimulate a part of the brain to mature in the correct way and perhaps yawning is the stimulus that gets this started.

So there you go, yawning in the womb may have a very important purpose.

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