How Do Babies Breathe?
Your attempts at childbirth actually produce stages of mechanical and physical changes that will help prepare your baby to breathe air for the first time. The fetus does not get oxygen from the air, so the fetus must get it from the mother. In the uterus, oxygen is flowed to the baby through the placenta. However, when the baby is born and the umbilical cord has been severed, the placenta can no longer do its job. So the lungs take over their function. In the uterus, the fetus’s lungs fill with fluid that helps them grow. Attempts at giving birth will dry out this fluid so that the lungs become enlarged and fill with air after the birth process.
Your baby’s lungs will start pumping blood into them right after your baby is born. In the fetus, blood does not pass through these organs due to pressure. During the birth process, the pressure on the baby’s lungs decreases and the blood begins to flow in it normally.
How Do Babies Keep Warm?
How can a baby born from warm conditions, 37 degrees Celsius, adjust to the conditions of the delivery room where the temperature is an average of 22 degrees? The thyroid plays a big role here. During childbirth, the baby’s thyroid level is very high. This condition is caused by conditions outside being suddenly cold for the baby and an increase in adrenaline. Increased thyroid levels generate heat from a fat called “brown” fat which helps the newborn to regulate its body temperature once it is released from the fetus. (Also read: Labor process)
Does the Baby Feel Sick?
Doctors now know that newborns may feel pain. But how much pain they feel during the birth process is still a matter of debate. So, it’s possible that the baby will also feel pain when he or she passes through the birth route – however, no one knows about this for sure. If the pain is felt by the baby, some experts believe that it may feel like a gradual pressure. It’s very difficult to tell what the baby is feeling, but the pain you feel and the baby feels are two very different things. It may very well be that the pain in babies is like the pressure that occurs when you try to escape from a very tight space – like the pressure you experience when you try to crawl out under a fence.
Can Babies Hear and See?
Just as it can be difficult to determine the pain a baby is going through as it passes through the birth route, doctors are also less sure about how much the baby can see or hear during the birth process. However, there have been several studies that state that babies have auditory abilities before they are born into the world. What’s more, doctors also say that the mother who talks and sings songs to the baby during the nine months of pregnancy will help the baby to recognize the voice of the mother later after birth – an example of the relationship between parent and child. The ability to see a baby before birth, on the other hand, is more difficult to determine. However, after the baby is born, we all know that his vision is blurry at first and he can’t focus properly. When the baby is held 8 to 15 inches from the mother’s face (this is done parallel to the position of the mother’s breast where the baby is normally breastfed), the baby will have the ability to detect the baby’s face – an example of an important element of the relationship between parent and child other.
How Do Babies Move During Birth?
During the birth process, your child will do their best to encourage the process to continue.
- To initiate cervical enlargement, your baby’s head will press on the birth canal.
- Babies will usually fold and turn to find the easiest way to get out of the fetus.
- When the largest part of your baby’s body – the head – is out, the postpartum process will be quicker and easier.
