Month seven How birth affects a baby

Whether your baby is born vaginally or by caesarean section, he will have some markings on his body that you may not expect. Here’s what to look out for, writes Tina Otte

MOST EXPECTANT PARENTS today know that a newborn baby looks nothing like the newborns you see on TV dramas. So while you already expect your baby to be slimy and wet, what may cause you concern in the hours after birth is the puffiness, bruising and swelling your baby may have on his head, face and genitalia. Your baby may look like he has just been in a fist fight, even if your birth has been a gentle one. Your baby has grown from a tiny seed into (on average) a 3-3.5kg little person. In order to fit, he has been squashed and squished into his womb environment. Next, he has to pass through the bony pelvis meaning his body has to adapt and move into a position to optimise his exit from your body. Sometimes the mother may need assistance in the form of metal forceps or a vacuum device to help push her baby out. In most births, the baby’s head is the first to enter the pelvis. In order for your baby’s head to fit through easily, he has to tuck his chin onto his chest and let the back and top of his head come through first. If he has his head lying in another position, or he lifts his chin, this could cause the labour to be longer and his head to be affected more by the delivery process. The newborn’s skull is made up of several separate bony plates that slide over one another in order to allow the head to pass through the pelvis. These bones will eventually fuse together. This feat permits the characteristically large head of the infant to be accommodated through the birth canal without injury to mother or baby. The pelvis has the capacity to open wider due to the loosening effects of the pregnancy hormones on the connective tissue of the pelvis. The mother’s position during labour can help or hinder the process.

MOULDING

This is the term given to the movement of the skull bones in shifting and overlapping, making the top of the infant’s head look elongated, stretched out, or even pointed at birth. This strange shape will disappear again fairly quickly as the skull bones move into a more normal rounded shape. The heads of babies born by caesarean section or a breech delivery (buttocks or feet first) usually don’t show moulding, unless there is a non-urgent caesarean if the labour is long and drawn out and the baby’s head has been in the birth canal a while before the operation. Due to the separation of your newborn’s skull bones, you’ll be able to feel two soft spots (the fontanelles), on