What effect does a difficult birth have?
Birth is one of the most stressful events of our lives. The baby is subjected to enormous forces, as the uterus pushes to expel the baby against the natural resistance of the birth canal. The baby’s head has the remarkable ability to absorb these stresses in a delivery, the soft bones of its skull overlap and warp to reduce the size of the head as the baby descends. Many babies are born with odd shaped heads, and in the first few days the head can be seen to gradually lose the extreme mould shape, as the baby suckles, yawns and cries. However, this unmoulding process is often incomplete, especially if the birth has been difficult, and especially if the birth involved the use of forceps or ventous. As a result, the baby may have to live with some uncomfortable stresses within its head and body, called retained moulding.
Related Questions
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