How is a baby born, and what does a new baby need?
Your guess
Pick one before you read on. It is fine to be wrong.
By the end you can
Describe how a baby is born and fed
Explain why good food and health care matter in pregnancy
After about 40 weeks the baby is ready to be born. Birth is also called labour, because it is hard work for the mother.
Draw it first
Draw how a baby is born
1 Before birth the baby lies head down. The cervix is closed.
2 The muscles of the uterus squeeze, again and again. The cervix slowly widens.
3 The cervix is wide open. The baby is pushed down, head first, into the vagina and out.
The uterus is a strong muscle. In labour it squeezes in waves called contractions. They slowly widen the cervix. Then they push the baby out through the vagina, most often head first. The vagina stretches to let the baby through.
Birth, in order. It can take many hours.
After the baby, the placenta comes out too. It is called the afterbirth. The cord is tied and cut. This does not hurt the baby, because the cord has no nerves. The short piece left on the baby dries and falls off. It leaves the belly button.
Sometimes a baby cannot be born safely through the vagina. Then doctors deliver it through a cut in the abdomen and the uterus. This is called a caesarean birth. The mother is given medicine so that she feels no pain.
Contractions push down on the baby from the top of the uterus. The head goes first, through the open cervix and the vagina.
Breast milk is made in the mother's breasts after the birth. It carries the mother's antibodies, which help protect the baby from illness. Where possible, breast milk alone is all the food and drink a baby needs for about six months.
A new baby feeds whenever it is hungry, often 8 to 12 times in a day and night. Feeding with formula milk is another way when it is needed.
Feeding at the breast. The more the baby feeds, the more milk the breasts make.What a new baby needs. Everyone at home can help.
Care starts before birth. What the mother eats, drinks and breathes reaches her blood. From there, much of it crosses the placenta to the baby. Good food helps the baby grow. Health checks in pregnancy find problems early, when they are easier to treat.
Alcohol, tobacco smoke and some medicines also cross the placenta. They can harm the baby, so a pregnant woman avoids them. She takes only the medicines a health worker says are safe.
Much of what reaches the mother's blood reaches the baby.
See it three ways
As a picture
In words
Food and oxygen pass from the mother's blood, through the placenta and along the cord, to the baby. So can alcohol and smoke.
Try it
Plan one day of feeds for a new baby
You need: paper, a pencil, a ruler.
Draw a line for one whole day. Mark it in hours from 0 to 24.
Suppose a new baby feeds every 3 hours, day and night. Mark a feed at 0, then every 3 hours.
Count the feeds. Then ask an adult at home how they looked after a new baby.
What you will see: That makes 8 feeds in a day, at night as well. Many babies feed even more often, 8 to 12 times. Looking after a new baby is a job for more than one person.
If you cannot try it, this is what happens.
A wrong idea many people have
A baby comes out through the belly button.
Why it feels right: The belly button is in the middle of the belly, where the baby seems to be.
The test that breaks it: The belly button is where the cord was joined. It is closed, and it does not lead into the uterus.
What is true: Most babies are born through the vagina. Sometimes doctors make a cut in the abdomen, but not at the belly button.
Key words
labour
the work of giving birth.
contractions
waves of squeezing by the muscle of the uterus.
afterbirth
the placenta, when it comes out after the baby.
breast milk
milk made in the mother's breasts to feed a baby.
health checks
visits to a health worker to see that mother and baby are well.
Back to your guess
The answer is A: The muscles of the uterus squeeze and push the baby out through the vagina.
Most babies are born through the vagina, pushed out by the strong muscles of the uterus. Sometimes doctors make a cut in the abdomen instead, but never at the belly button.
Check yourself
Try each one before you look. A wrong answer tells you where to go next.
What pushes the baby out at birth?
See the answer
The muscles of the uterus, squeezing in contractions
The uterus is a strong muscle. In labour it squeezes in waves and pushes the baby out.
If you chose A: A baby moves, but it is not strong enough. The muscle of the uterus does the pushing. Go to S3.4.7.
If you chose C: The stomach is part of the digestive system. The uterus is the muscle that pushes. Go to S3.4.7.
What must happen to the cervix before the baby can be born?
See the answer
It must widen.
The baby leaves the uterus through the cervix, so it opens wide during labour.
If you chose B: The cervix is closed during pregnancy. For birth it has to open wide. Go to S3.4.7.
If you chose C: The cervix is not broken. Contractions open it slowly, over hours. Go to S3.4.7.
What comes out after the baby?
See the answer
The placenta, called the afterbirth
Once the baby is born, the placenta comes away from the wall of the uterus. Then it is pushed out.
If you chose A: The placenta is not needed after birth, so it comes out too. Go to S3.4.7.
If you chose B: The uterus stays in the body and slowly shrinks back. It is the placenta that comes out. Go to S3.4.7.
Why is breast milk good for a new baby?
See the answer
It has the food and water the baby needs and helps protect it from illness.
Breast milk feeds the baby and carries antibodies from the mother that help fight illness.
If you chose B: Breast milk has fat, sugar and protein as well as water. Go to S3.4.7.
If you chose C: A baby feeds on milk long before it has any teeth. Go to S3.4.7.
Why should a pregnant woman not drink alcohol?
See the answer
Alcohol crosses the placenta and can harm the baby.
Alcohol in the mother's blood passes through the placenta to the baby's blood.
If you chose A: The placenta does not block alcohol. It crosses to the baby. Go to S3.4.7.
If you chose C: The baby is growing all through pregnancy, so it matters from the start. Go to S3.4.7.
Ravi's aunt is pregnant. Which helps her baby most?
See the answer
Good food and health checks
Good food helps the baby grow, and health checks find any problems early.
If you chose A: The baby needs food from the mother's blood to grow. Good food helps. Go to S3.4.7.
If you chose B: Any tobacco smoke can harm the baby. The best is none at all. Go to S3.4.7.
A new baby feeds every 3 hours, day and night. How many feeds is that in 24 hours?
See the answer
8 feeds
24 ÷ 3 = 8. Many babies feed even more often.
From an earlier chapter
What does the umbilical cord do?
See the answer
It joins the baby to the placenta.
The baby's blood flows along the cord to the placenta, picks up food and oxygen, and flows back.
If you chose B: The baby floats and moves in the fluid. The cord carries blood to and from the placenta. Go to S3.4.6.
If you chose C: The cord carries the baby's blood to the placenta and back. Waste goes into the mother's blood there. Go to S3.4.6.
Keep it
Copy this into your exercise book.
In labour the uterus squeezes, the cervix widens and the baby is pushed out through the vagina. The placenta follows. Breast milk feeds and protects a baby. Good food and health checks help a pregnancy.
Draw: Draw four boxes in order: contractions, cervix widens, baby pushed out, placenta follows.
