By Jonas Wilson, Ing. Med.
Why do babies cry?
Babies cry and a lot. It’s just something they all do. Arguably, some are less fussy than others, but the fact remains that it’s impossible to find a baby who will not cry at some point. Crying is a sign that a baby is alive when he or she is born. This process allows for air to enter their lungs for the first time in their lives. From birth onwards, babies quickly learn to use their cry as a primary communication tool in the outside world. This may be particularly demanding for parents, especially those who may have had unrealistic expectations about their infant.
Newborns, for quite some time, will not be able to have a real conversation and this makes it easy for people to overlook the reality that babies too have needs. They are just unable to communicate those needs in a way that their caretakers could understand. As we can well imagine, they need to eat, be comfortable and, above all, kept as healthy as possible and free of any morbidity. Babies, like all humans, require attention and affection and they also can experience emotions, like fear, pain and anger. When their needs are not met, most of them will cry, because that’s their greatest weapon from a communication standpoint.
The first cry in the moments after birth
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It is a signal that something may be gravely wrong. Before a child is born, the blood is oxygenated via the placenta. During intrauterine life, our blood circulates differently. There are several bypasses or unique features, namely the ductus venosus (i.e. shunt for oxygenated placental blood to bypass the liver), ductus arteriosus (i.e. shunt for oxygenated blood to bypass non-functioning amniotic fluid-filled lungs) and foramen ovale (i.e. passage for oxygenated blood to go from right atrium to the left