I saw a reel on how african doctors will slap the baby for them to cry and i know for a fact that this is true and there must be a reason behind it but i just don’t get it
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My son came out in awe of the world so much so that he didn’t feel like breathing so one of the first things I said as a mother is “WHY ISNT HE CRYING?!” he had to get his nose and mouth sunctioned but was better after that
My son had the cord wrapped around his neck so they took my wife in for an emergency c-section. Obviously everyone was very scared and having heard about the whole baby crying = breathing thing before all I could think from behind my little curtain was “please start crying, please start crying”. A few minutes go by and I’m freaking out more than I ever have in my life then the doctor pops his head back behind the curtain and in the most casual tone says “k so everything is fine, he’s breathing normally but… he really just doesn’t want to cry?” They did a full check up and xray’d his chest and everything and there was nothing wrong. He didn’t cry for like 3 days.
The one time you absolutely want to hear a baby cry and the dude was just like cool is this party over can we go home now?
Baby don’t breathe in mom’s womb and mom does the breathing for baby. When baby comes out, similar to a car that needs to be turned on using a start button (ignition), babies need to be smacked on the bum (if they don’t cry themselves) to start their oxygen intake.
When the baby is in the womb, the lungs do not oxygenate the blood like they do outside. Instead there is an opening in the heart that allows the blood to skip going to the lungs. Once the baby is born, the pressure from crying helps to close that hole so that blood does go to the lungs to get oxygen. Sometimes it doesn’t close completely, and medications can be given to help close it, or in severe circumstances, surgery.
Being born is an absolutely traumatic event, so a cry is normal and a sign everything went well. Birthing isn’t simply a matter of evacuating the uterus, there are circulatory and respiratory mechanisms that have to switch from relying on the umbilical cord to having the baby’s body become self sufficient for the first time ever. Crying is a welcome sign of that happening successfully.
And for the earworm of the day, “you would cry too if it happened to you”, thank you, Leslie Gore.
People have already discussed the crying baby = breathing baby part so I’ll talk about what is specifically being looked for at a glance:
At least in the US we use something called “APGAR scoring” to determine the wellbeing and stability of a newborn:
APGAR stands for:
Activity (muscle tone, can be absent 0, present but not dynamic/ only flexed 1, or active 2)
Pulse (absent 0, under 100 which isn’t great 1, or over 100 which is what we want 2)
Grimace (floppy, minimally responsive to stimulation, or immediately responsive)
Appearance (blue/pale, blue/pale in extremities, pink all over)
Respiration (absent, slow and irregular, or vigorous cry)
A high score indicates a more stable baby. If the baby is crying they immediately get a lot of points (+2 for activity, +2 grimace, +2 respiration +2 pulse = 8). Above a 7 is what we’re looking for. If a baby is crying you immediately know they’re doing well and won’t likely need immediate intervention.
It also shows the baby’s baseline functioning, so you can tell if they’re declining.
I learned to dry the baby rather toughly, rather than spanking.
It’s a bit of a carry over from other species. Many mammals give birth standing up, so the baby hits the ground. The impact is what triggers the baby to start breathing on its own.
I’ve seen a few videos where veterinarians will drop a newborn calf again if it didn’t get shocked enough to start breathing.
The same goes for humans. The slap is a stand in for getting dropped on the ground. It triggers the baby to start breathing.
Respiratory therapist here! Crying allows them to clear amniotic fluid from their lungs, as well as expand the lungs so that the air sacs (alveoli) can start working. If a newborn baby doesn’t breathe well when they come out, we’ll often give them CPAP to help expand their lungs instead. Crying helps with babies’ functional residual capacity, which is the amount of air that stays in the lungs after exhalation. Keeping the lungs the right amount of “inflated” is imperative to the success of the baby after birth.
It is the fastest way to definitively know that they are breathing and their airway is not obstructed. Babies go for a period without oxygen when the enter the birth canal because they get their oxygen from the umbilical cord which is heavily compressed and the placenta has detached from mom during labor. This is why they usually look blue when they come out. They can also inhale liquids and even their own poo and potentially choke. If you can hear them crying, the airway is more or less patent and they didn’t die during delivery.
It’s initiation/hazing for joining the world of the living
Same way the Hells Angels beat you up before they let you join.
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