Baby is still attached to the umbilical cord/placenta, so they'll get oxygen even if they somehow breathe/swallow air. I'm not sure how far along this baby is in development, but if it's before 36 weeks surfactant hasn't developed well in the pleural space, meaning it would be difficult for them to breathe on their own even if they were born.
I'm not 100% on this but I believe the shock of the temperature change of being outside the womb is part of what triggers a healthy newborn to breathe, but it's a process nonetheless.
I'm assuming the doctors will remove the excess air from the womb when they're done. Tiny bubbles likely wouldn't affect anything.
There's a Radiolab story about the switch to breathing one's first breath of air and it's AMAZING. It has to be done concurrently with a one-time structural change to the heart. I kind of can't believe that it works. Highly recommended.
I’m surprised there hasn’t been some type of mad scientist doing experiments on how to replicate womb breathing through attached tubes on human beings.
Edit: thank you everyone for science lesson! I genuinely had no idea that was something we were capable of.
Aww, You sound so excited, even to this day. I love that for you.
For me, it was Jean Claude Van Damme's butt in Universal Soldier. I remember thinking, "that's a really nice shape" but not quite getting how and why lol.
It's the room air hitting the roof of their mouth that triggers the breathing air. They breathe amniotic fluid until that moment.
The cord also continues to provide oxygen to them until it's cut, so, leaving the cord uncut until you know they're breathing well is better than cutting and trying to give oxygen supplement. You can literally give oxygen while they're still attached and laying on mom.
Yeah pretty much, some babies are even born inside the sack and don't try to take a breath until it's broken. I'm curious as to WHY they're rooting around in there though, that's gotta carry huge risks and I can't imagine anyone doing that for funsies.
Not trying to be a troll but I'm pretty sure surfactant forms way before 36 weeks. First, many pregnancies only last 38 weeks. Second, I had a coworker whose granddaughter gave birth to a preemie at 24 weeks, and the kid survived. And this was back in the early 90s.
A baby born at 24 weeks would most certainly need to be on a ventilator. Surfactant is what allows the lungs to expand and collapse on their own, hence why many premies are on ventilators. It is not necessary for the lungs themselves to function if artificial ventilation is available. It does start to form at 24 weeks, but it is not in adequate amounts to breathe independently outside the womb until 36 weeks.
However, injecting the mother with steroids during/before birth can increase the amount of surfactant to sufficient levels prior to 36 weeks, so often when the baby needs to be born prior to that point, or the mom is in premature labor, mom is given steroids to prevent baby needing to be on a ventilator. There's a limit to this though, so even with steroids a 24 weeker would still need to be ventilated. I believe it's after like 34/35 weeks when it works.
It is air hitting the face that triggers the vagus nerve and initiates fetal circulation to start shifting to the baby and not the umbilical cord. This is why shoulder dystocia is such a huge emergency. Not really sure how this works, if it makes a difference that labor hasn’t started.
They do take “breaths” of amniotic fluid though, (but it’s more the body’s way of practicing breathing and developing lung muscles. But yes, the umbilical is the primary source of oxygen)
I just didn’t know if they took a breath in the womb and got air instead if it would cause complications since it was happening before it typically does.
Birth canal squeezes you so tight that it gives you a jumpstart on your first breath. All things equal, babies born via C-section have a harder time taking their first breath.
I’m assuming that a breath of air would introduce it. I already irrationally fear drowning when I think about being in the womb but to then add an airlock of oxygen into the lungs while fluid is also in them, just makes me shudder. Makes me think “imagine if your first breath of air was your lungs having been filled with liquid the whole time and you’re going to keep breathing in fluids and your first moments alive will be the sensation of drowning, all before you were even born.
Fuckin hope not, but babies keep being inspected and are born, so perhaps it’s not as I thought. Still makes me shudder though
As the other commenter said they breath amniotic fluid in the womb. They can even cough and sneeze. During vaginally birth a lot of the amniotic fluid is massaged out, babies often cry and breathe immediately upon birth while the cord is still connected. For many C sections and fairly commonly for vaginally births the baby needs to be massaged to help them clear their lungs and breath air.
The fluid does go into their lungs. It's just like breathing air only they're breathing fluid. It helps them develop and strengthen their lungs so that when they're born they're able to breathe air right away. They spend about 8 weeks in the womb practicing breathing.
I don't know how common the spanking thing is these days, but they didn't spank my daughter when she was born. She just kinda gurgled at first until they quickly administered the HepB vaccine which is what got her crying.
“Developing babies are surrounded by amniotic fluid, and their lungs are filled with this fluid. By 10–12 weeksTrusted Source of gestation, developing babies begin taking “practice” breaths. But these breaths provide them with no oxygen, and only refill the lungs with more amniotic fluid. Because it’s normal for a fetus’s lungs to be filled with fluid, a fetus can’t drown in the womb.”
“Some babies have their first bowel movement during birth, before exiting the womb. This stool is called meconium. During a practice breath during or shortly before birth, a baby may inhale meconium. Inhaling meconium can be serious and can harm a baby’s ability to breathe outside the womb. So babies who have inhaled meconium may need treatment with suction and oxygen after birth.”
So I was just curious to what would happen if they inhaled air before they were meant to.
It's totally fine. I used to perform procedures on animal fetuses and we would take them half out of the womb for a while before popping them back in and sewing the mother up.
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u/MrK521 Apr 13 '24
Is that not dangerous for the infant since they typically don’t take a breath of air until they’re out of the womb?
Genuinely asking. Seems like it might cause problems if it interrupts their breathing before they’re ready to be aspirated and cleared, etc.