This Is What Your Baby Experiences During Labor and Delivery

You've probably spent most of your pregnancy planning and preparing for what you will go through once labor starts. Everything from packing the hospital bag, taking a birthing class, and deciding on your preferences for pain management has likely been checked off your list.

But what about your little one? What does a baby do during contractions, and what do they experience during the birthing process? We talked to experts to answer your biggest questions about the labor and delivery experience from your baby's perspective.

How Does the Baby's Head Fit Through The Birth Canal?

Every pregnant person wonders—often with a wince or two—how a 7-, 8-, or even 9-pound baby manages to fit through an opening roughly the diameter of a bagel. But don't worry too much: Mother Nature equips infants with soft, moldable skulls for a reason.

"When you touch a newborn's head, it feels almost like tiles," says Richard Auerbach, MD, a board-certified pediatrician specializing in neonatal and perinatal medicine at the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. "And where the grout would be are soft areas that allow a baby's head to remain pliable as it passes through the birth canal."

Additionally, the cervix is also totally thinned out, and therefore that opening is pliable as well. So, the passageway formed by the lower uterine segment (and the very thin remnant of the cervix) can stretch around the baby. The molding of your baby's skull is just one of the changes that allows the baby to pass through.

This is why head of every baby born vaginally becomes misshapen to some degree during the birth process, but even the most pronounced "conehead" returns to normal within a few days.

How Does The Baby Breathe During Labor?

Labor produces mechanical and physiological changes that help prepare your baby for that first gulp of air. During pregnancy, the fetus gets oxygen from their gestational parent, explains Sandy Falk, MD, a board-certified OB-GYN, director of Gynecology, Sexual Health Program, Adult Survivorship Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and editor-in-chief of Merck Manuals. "In utero, oxygen is delivered through the placenta to the baby."

But once the baby is born, and the umbilical cord is clamped, the placenta can no longer do its job, so the baby's lungs take over. In the womb, a fetus's lungs are filled with fluid that helps them mature. "Labor dries up this fluid so the lungs can expand and fill with air after birth," notes Dr. Auerbach.

Your baby's lungs will also begin receiving more blood after birth. In the womb, the blood bypasses these organs due to pressure. During delivery, the pressure in the baby's lungs drops, and blood starts flowing through them normally.

How Does the Baby Stay Warm?

How does a baby who's coming from consistent a 98.6-degree environment adjust to a 70-degree delivery room? The thyroid plays a big role. "At birth, a baby's thyroid level is sky-high," says Dr. Auerbach. That surge is caused both by exposure to cold and by increased adrenaline.

Elevated thyroid levels cause heat production from a type of fat called "brown" fat, which is essential in helping a newborn regulate its temperature outside the womb. Of course, newborns still need a lot of help maintaining their body temperature. Delaying their first bath, putting a hat on them, and safely swaddling them in a cozy receiving blanket can help.

Does the Baby Feel Pain During Labor?

Doctors now know that newly born babies most certainly feel pain and discomfort. But exactly how much they feel during labor and delivery is still unknown.

"If you performed a medical procedure on a baby shortly after birth, [they] would certainly feel pain," says Christopher E. Colby, MD, pediatrician and director of the neonatology fellowship program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "So it may be that a baby does feel pain while [they're] going through the birth canal—but no one knows for sure."

If the pain of labor and delivery does register with a baby, some experts liken it to a feeling of being gradually squeezed. "It's hard to say what a baby senses," says Dr. Auerbach. "But your pain and the baby's pain are totally different. It's possible that the baby's pain may be what it feels like to squeeze through a tight space—such as the feeling of compression you get when you try to crawl under a fence."

It also might feel like squeezing yourself through a crowd, or squeezing yourself between two large boulders while caving.

What Can the Baby Hear and See During Birth?

Just as there's no way to tell what kind of sensation a baby feels when they travel through the birth canal, doctors are also unsure about how much a baby sees or hears during labor. But it is well established that a baby has some auditory abilities before they enter the world.

Doctors say that hearing a parent talk and sing during the time they are in the womb allows a baby to recognize the sound of their voice after birth, and is a part of parent-child bonding.

By contrast, a baby's eyesight before birth is harder to gauge. But after a baby is born, we know their vision is blurry at first, and they can't focus well. When held about 8 to 15 inches from their parent's face (it's no coincidence that this is about the distance between your face and your baby's when they're cradled in your arms), the baby can detect their caregiver's facial features, another element of initial bonding.

How Does the Baby Move During Labor?

Your infant will do their best to help the process along as your labor progresses. For example, your baby's body (usually their head) will push down on the cervix aiding dilation, and as they descend into the birth canal, infants will twist and turn to find the easiest way to squeeze through the pelvic bones.

While your baby will move in various ways throughout labor, there are major movements (known as the cardinal movements of labor) that babies in a head-down position will typically go through during vaginal delivery. These include:

• Engagement: When the widest part of the baby's head enters the pelvis
• Descent: When the baby's head descends further into the pelvis
• Flexion: When the baby's head flexes down (chin to chest) as they descend
• Internal rotation: When the baby's head rotates so the back of the head is just below the pubic bone
• Extension: When the head extends back to rotate under and around the pubic bone
• External rotation: When the head rotates to be in line with the body after it is delivered
• Expulsion: When the top shoulder is delivered under the pubic bone and the rest of the body follows

What does a baby do during contractions? They continue to move! Research has shown that babies continue to move throughout labor, and most of their movement happens during contractions.

What's It Like for a Baby During a C-Section?

How is the birth experience of a C-section baby different from the experience of being born vaginally? For one thing, a baby who hasn't squeezed through the birth canal will likely have a rounder, less pinched-looking head.

Another key difference: A baby born by C-section may breathe faster and shallower than a baby born vaginally. That's because the contractions of the parent's womb during labor and the compression of their chest in the birth canal can help expel fluid from the lungs.

Consequently, a baby born by C-section can be born with what's known as transient tachypnea of the newborn, or "wet lung," and may have to breathe faster and harder until the fluid is expelled or absorbed. The good news: The issue usually resolves itself in 24 to 48 hours.