Babies may ‘catch’ yawns from their mother in the womb, new study finds

Fetuses may "catch" yawns from their mothers while still in the womb, according to a new study published in Current Biology. Researchers studied 38 pregnant women and found that when mothers yawned, their babies tended to yawn shortly after — and mothers who yawned more had fetuses that yawned more. This suggests that social contagion begins before birth, hinting that maternal behavior may shape a baby's social development from the very start.