Monday, March 21, 2011

Why Babies Cry

Why do babies cry when they come out of the womb? Wouldn't it be nice if they just came out laughing and smiling and doing that cute little gurgling thing they do? But no, they come out looking like aliens and screaming at the top of their lungs.



I did some looking into this subject and a lot of people seem to think that they cry because they are scared, which could very well be true. I believe that babies actually cry because of the fact that the first inflation of the lungs is decently painful, at least that's what I learned in human development. Babies "practice" breathing in the womb but the lungs don't actually inflate until they are filled with oxygen. That's not a very interesting explanation though.
If we looked through the eyes of a baby, how would we see this?

  • First off, the baby could be cold. In the womb a baby is almost always 98.6 degrees. How many hospitals are that warm? I can answer that question- not many, at least none that I've ever been in. 
  • Secondly, the world is LOUD! If you've been living in a decently quiet place and suddenly you're pushed out into a world with beeping, crying, yelling, talking and bustling around you wouldn't be very happy either.
  • The umbilical cord allows for constant nourishment to the baby and all of the sudden it has been sawed off. That's it. No more food. Suck.
  • You've been floating around in random fluids for 9 months. Now you're being tossed around from doctor to nurse to other nurses to mom to dad etc etc. Not fun. Talk about motion sickness!
These are just a few things that popped into my head about how I would feel if I had just been born but I guess we'll never know since we can't be born again.


1 comment:

  1. That is very interesting! And you bring up some really interesting points. Birth doesn't seem very fun even as a concept for anyone. The mother goes through incredible pain and the baby, one can imagine, probably doesn't want to be torn away from its mother.

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