News items this November informs us that yes, unborn children do yawn! Scientists have reported before on yawning in unborn children as well as other activity such as hiccupping, stretching, swallowing and thumb sucking.  But there were those who disagreed on the matter of yawning claiming that unborn children were merely opening their mouths.
 
Now, new research shows that indeed yawning does occur in the womb. British researchers examined 4D scans of 15 healthy unborn children and were able to distinguish between opening of the mouth and yawning. The distinction has  to do with the amount of time the mouth remains open. The unborn children studied ranged in age from 24 to 36 weeks gestation. Eight were female and seven were male children.
This observation may offer doctors a new means of checking on a developing baby’s health.  Nadja Reissland, a researcher at Durham University’s Department of Psychology headed the study.
According to a Reuters article, “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.”
The findings were reported in the journal PLOS ONE the week of November 24, 2012
Yes, unborn children are amazingly active before birth.  The first nine months of development of a new human being tell the wondrous story of life before birth.