Fetal yawning

Abstract

Fetal neurobehavioral patterns have been considered as indicators of nervous system development. Moreover, the capacity of 4-dimensional sonography to evaluate complex facial expressions allows recognition of common behaviors with which one can appreciate the prenatal functional development of the central nervous system. Using yawning as an example, we review this interpretation on the basis of knowledge derived from phylogeny and ontogeny. As a flip-flop switch, the reciprocal interactions between sleep- and wake-promoting brain regions allow the emergence of distinct states of arousal. By its ontogenic links with REM sleep, yawning appears to be a behavior which causes arousal reinforcement through the powerful stretching and the neuromuscular connections induced. Yawning indicates a harmonious progress in the development of both the brainstem and the peripheral neuromuscular function, testifying to the induction of an ultradian rhythm of vigilance. The lack of fetal yawn, frequently associated with lack of swallowing (associated or not with retrognathia), may be a key to predicting brainstem dysfunction after birth.