The newborn's hiccup and the sucking reflex: two behaviours inscribed before birth

In Surah An-Nahl (16:78), the Quran declares: "And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and intellect that perhaps you would be grateful." (وَاللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّن بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ).

"وَاللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّن بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ" — "And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and intellect that perhaps you would be grateful." (16:78)

The verse describes a being who is born in total ignorance ("you did not know a thing") yet already equipped: hearing, sight, heart. In other words, the newborn is not a blank page: he arrives with organs and behaviours already in place, prepared before his birth. This is precisely what developmental science brings to light through two very particular behaviours: the hiccup and the sucking reflex.

The hiccup: a fetal behaviour, not a mere accident

The newborn's hiccup is a universal phenomenon, often regarded as trivial. Yet ultrasound observation shows that it does not appear at birth: it is already present in the fetus, from the end of the first trimester.

• Fetal breathing movements, including hiccups, are observed from the 10th-11th week of gestation.
• The fetal hiccup is a rhythmic diaphragmatic movement, distinct from air breathing, which persists until birth.
• In the newborn, hiccups are more frequent than in adults and often occur after feeding.

A notable scientific hypothesis, formulated by Kimberley Whitehead and her colleagues (2019), proposes that fetal and neonatal hiccups play a role in brain maturation: each diaphragmatic contraction sends a wave of activity to the cortex that would help the newborn build a "map" of his own body and learn to regulate his breathing. The hiccup would therefore not be a malfunction, but a programmed neurological exercise.

The sucking reflex: a programme inscribed before birth

The second behaviour is even more striking: the newborn knows how to suckle from the very first minutes of life, without learning. This sucking reflex is an innate behaviour, whose setting-up begins in the womb.

• The sucking reflex appears around the 28th-34th week of gestation; it is fully functional in the full-term newborn.
• The fetus sucks its thumb in the womb, which contributes to training the reflex and preparing for feeding.
• Sucking triggers in the infant a release of digestive hormones and a calming effect, showing that it is integrated into a set of physiological regulations.

Thus, the child who "knows nothing" at birth nevertheless knows how to suckle, swallow and coordinate his breathing with sucking — a complex sequence which, if it had to be learned, would make the newborn's feeding impossible. These skills are written before birth.

A convergence, not a proof

The Quran does not describe a biological mechanism here; it affirms a truth about the human condition: the human being is born ignorant, yet equipped. Developmental science illuminates this affirmation by showing that the newborn arrives with behaviours already programmed, whose setting-up begins in his mother's womb. For the believer, this reading is not a demonstration, but an illumination: science, in its own order, helps to better understand part of the verse, and it cannot be otherwise.