• Question: Is childbirth painful for babies?

    Asked by mollieK to Adrian, Gaia, Jim, Scott on 16 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Adrian Buzatu

      Adrian Buzatu answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      It is a shock of entering a new environment, but you don’t remember any pain from birth, do you? It may affect our subconscious mind, but at least it affects all humans, than.

    • Photo: Gaia Andreoletti

      Gaia Andreoletti answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      Toda there is pretty good evidence that the birth process is painful and traumatic. The babies often come through the womb with large bruises. Thre is no metrics for perception of pain, but heart rate variability and the amount that the babies sleep immediately after being born suggest that the process is painful for the infant. Luckily we do not remember anything!

    • Photo: Scott Lawrie

      Scott Lawrie answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      It is painful for the mother and the baby, yes. Babies’ heart rates are carefully monitored during birth to see if they’re getting too stressed or are in too much pain. Newborn babies have very strange shaped heads because of all the squeezing going on, but they soon pop back into the right shape and they remember nothing of the process 🙂

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