# Can a fetus fart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2022, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192 "2022-09-25T08:04:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/1 "2022-09-25T08:04:54Z")
No, i don’t need an answer fast. But we were discussing this over the dinner table, and i wondered if anyone knows the factual answer. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/2 "2022-09-25T12:03:57Z")
My off-the-cuff guess was that farting requires gut bacteria digesting food, and fetuses do not get exposed to those bacteria until after birth. But I did google before posting, and not too surprisingly this is a question that comes up occasionally. > **[Do Babies Fart in the Womb? Two Experts Weigh In](https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/do-babies-fart-in-the-womb)** > > Pregnancy often leads to tons of questions, and we guarantee you're not the first parent to wonder whether babies fart in the womb. Here are the facts. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/3 "2022-09-25T22:41:04Z")
Calling Qadgop, Jackmanii, and other doctors! IANAPhysician, but my guess is probably not, unless something is terribly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/4 "2022-09-25T23:37:59Z")
This sounds (?) like a DSeid question. The explanation that makes sense to me is no fetal farting, because fetuses don’t swallow air or digest food in utero. Don’t try lighting them either. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/5 "2022-09-26T03:04:38Z")
Have you ever seen a baby’s first bowel movement? It’s a thick, tarry substance called **meconium**. I think of it as the Cosmoline the human digestive system comes packed in. It’s hard for me to imagine any sort of _flatus_ fighting its way through that thick, unforgiving material, especially with only a baby’s intestinal muscles pushing it through. > **[Meconium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium)** > > Meconium is the earliest stool of a mammalian infant resulting from defecation. Unlike later feces, meconium is composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the uterus: intestinal epithelial cells, lanugo, mucus, amniotic fluid, bile, and water. Meconium, unlike later feces, is viscous and sticky like tar – its color usually being a very dark olive green and it is almost odorless. When diluted in amniotic fluid, it may appear in various shades of green, brown, or yellow. Me... > **[Cosmoline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoline)** > > Cosmoline is the genericized trademark for a common class of brown, wax-like petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors, typically conforming to United States Military Standard MIL-C-11796C Class 3. They are viscous when freshly applied, have a slight fluorescence, and solidify over time with exposure to air. The main ingredient in cosmoline is aliphatic petroleum solvent, which is volatile and evaporates over time. > Cosmoline was developed by Houghton International in the 1860s or 1870s as a pharmaceu... ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/6 "2022-09-26T03:36:34Z")
I would say no. Not much air in the womb, especially prior to parturition. Fetuses do swallow a lot of amniotic fluid but excrete it using their kidneys, so that hardly counts. Philosophically, if no one hears it, can it be said to exist? Is it dealt if no one can smell it? Is it supplied if never denied? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/7 "2022-09-26T15:32:53Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > we were discussing this over the dinner table I think the question has been answered, so I’d like to point out that this is inappropriate dinner table conversation. And that’s a fact. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/8 "2022-09-26T15:56:38Z")
Lol. My father was a gastroenterologist who talked about his patients at the dinner table. This ain’t nothing. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/9 "2022-09-26T15:58:38Z")
Heh. My gf frequently stops me from bringing up unpleasant topics over dinner. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/10 "2022-09-27T01:23:00Z")
When my nieces were born, they were sent home with a basic instruction sheet (yes, such things DO exist) and it included a description of what their BMs should look like in the first few days at home. So, my parents got to hear, at least after the first one, “Her poop was green, and now it’s yellow” but I did point out that if it didn’t look a certain way, the baby could have something wrong with it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/11 "2022-09-27T11:38:30Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > When my nieces were born, they were sent home with a basic instruction sheet (yes, such things DO exist) Damn! We never got such a sheet. We’re till tying to figure out how our daughter works, a quarter of a century later. And now the warranty has expired. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/12 "2022-09-27T11:56:25Z")
I consider this one of the truly great questions of our time! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2022, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-fetus-fart/972192/13 "2022-09-29T06:07:11Z")
All I can say is you can’t tell me they can’t get hiccoughs.