Why do babies cry when they are born?

For an expectant mother, nothing beats the sound of her baby’s first cry. Nine months of carrying her inside her womb and after enduring hours of excruciating labour, finally her baby is out into the world. For most babies, the first thing that they will do when they’re out is cry. But there are other babies who would first glance at his surroundings then cry after a few minutes.

So why do babies cry when they’re born? So far, there are still no concrete facts as to why babies do this instead there are a lot of theories which somehow explains why babies react like this. Babies cry because of the trauma that they felt during childbirth. According to recent studies, babies can feel the pain of the mother during childbirth so just imagine how scared and traumatized the babies feel during this moment. In fact, it is exhausting for the baby, which is why after the first few minutes of life, babies have the tendency to sleep for the next eight hours or more.

Change in temperature can also be another reason why babies cry. Try to picture yourself being pushed out of the place where you first grew in, from the warm uterus to the cold hospital room. Now that’s scary isn’t it? Inside the womb, the baby is surrounded with fluid which makes the baby feel like ‘floating’ but because of the gravity outside the womb, the baby feels like its falling which is another reason why it cries. Another reason is because it is the first time the baby uses its lungs to breathe air and this action is painful for the baby at first hence they cry. Crying is a good way to inhale oxygen into his or her lungs and it is also a good sign that the baby is okay and responsive. In conclusion, we can never really tell why a baby cries when he or she is being born. Unless a real newborn baby talks, we can only rely on theories.

Source: Leonard Okachie, National Mirrow, 15/12/11