Written By: Prerna Mittra | Updated : February 23, 2024 2:45 PM IST
During pregnancy, oxygen reaches the baby's body via the belly button. (Photo: Freepik)
Pregnancy is a fascinating concept -- a human life taking shape inside the body, growing multiple organs, limbs, developing a personality, etc. Also known as gestation period, pregnancy is calculated as 40 weeks and starts from the first day of your last menstrual period. It is classified into three stages called 'trimesters'. The first trimester is said to be the one wherein one has to remain cautious, as there are high chances of miscarriage. The duration of pregnancy can differ. For some women, 'full term' babies can arrive anytime between 37 and 42 weeks. Some babies, however, are born earlier or prematurely. One common question that many people ask is, during this period, how does the baby breathe inside the womb, especially since their lungs are still developing and they are not exposed to the outside air like we are?
Like any developing life-form, babies also need oxygen early on in the pregnancy. But, they do not really breathe in and out through their nostrils. They receive their oxygen through umbilical cord attached to the mother, and take their first breath only after birth when the first cries are heard.
Dr Tanaya, who is popular as Dr Cuterus on social media, explained in a video that it is natural to wonder how babies breathe when they are literally 'floating and living in fluid'. She said that babies get oxygen from their mother's blood, through blood vessels in the placenta and the umbilical cord. "During pregnancy, a woman's body develops a whole new organ called the placenta. Every time the mother takes in a breath, the air reaches the baby's body inside the uterus through the umbilical cord and the placenta, into the baby's belly button," said the doctor.
The process assumes a reverse form, said Dr Tanaya. The carbon dioxide that the baby lets out through the belly button travels through the umbilical cord and out through the placenta, which the mother exhales.
It should be noted that lung development begins early in pregnancy, but is not complete until the third trimester. In fact, between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, lungs begin forming alveoli (tiny lung sacs that fill with oxygen) and until these are fully developed, a baby may not be able to breathe on its own outside the womb.
