ELI5- why do babies don’t drown in the womb when they are covered by liquid in the womb?
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Breathing is to get oxygen into the lungs, and then into the bloodstream. The woman breathes, and the oxygen, as well as all the nutrients from what she eats, is from her blood – that is then transferred into the placenta which passes that on to the growing fetus. Fetuses don’t have working lungs until very late in the pregnancy, which is why premies often don’t breathe well. It’s one of the last systems to be completely set up. A fetus does ‘practice’ breathing, by hiccuping, as the diaphragm and other muscles, develop.
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