Childbirth is truly a momentous occasion. Nature has played her part, and the baby is ready to enter the world.
For the expectant mother, childbirth is often exhausting and painful. But it can also be trying for the baby because they come into a wide open space that is colder and dramatically different from the womb. During pregnancy, the baby receives oxygen and nourishment from the placenta, but in the outside world, they will start breathing and eating on their own from the first moment on.
The very process of childbirth is truly amazing. Let’s take a deeper look at how a baby prepares for birth.
How does the baby “know what to do” during childbirth?
Babies rely on their reflexes during childbirth. It is also believed that they are in a kind of hibernating state at birth. A study on this coined the term “intrapartum hibernation,” noting that in the first three to five seconds of life, newborns do not move or react to light, sound, or touch. Their mouth and eyes are tightly closed, and their muscles are relaxed. Then, suddenly, the baby "wakes up" and starts crying and moving while their heart begins to beat faster [1].
That sharp change in babies’ behavior prompted scientists to infer that they are also inactive during childbirth. Scientists describe this as an inhibition of the central nervous system, which helps the baby go through childbirth as safely as possible [1]. It does not mean the baby should go quiet before birth, though: you should feel your baby move right up to the time you go into labor, and during labor too. If your baby is moving less than usual, call your doctor or maternity unit right away.
Does the baby feel pain?
Studies show that the centers in the brain responsible for pain perception are formed in the baby as early as 24 weeks of pregnancy [2].
But whether they can feel pain the way adults do is difficult to say. The fact is that the processing of pain signals in the brain depends on the characteristics of an individual’s personality and past experiences [3].
"It's hard to say what a baby senses," says Dr. Auerbach, a neonatologist at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Florida. "But your pain and the baby's pain are totally different. It's possible that the baby's pain may be what it feels like to squeeze through a tight space, like the pressing feeling you get when you try to crawl under a fence" [4].
Perhaps the baby does not feel any pain at all because, during childbirth, the mother's body releases a significant amount of beta-endorphin [5], a hormone that acts as a natural pain reliever and anti-stress agent and also enters the baby's bloodstream.
