Nothing gives a pregnant woman in labour joy and wipes away memories of her labour pains like the cry of her newly born baby. For the doctor and nurses in the delivery room or in the operating theatre, a loud cry of a baby once he or she is delivered is an indication that the baby’s body systems are receiving the needed blood and oxygen and that the baby is fine.

Unfortunately, some babies fail to cry immediately after they are delivered or cry very weakly. When this happens it means the baby is in great danger and both the doctor and nurses try to stimulate the baby through suctioning the baby’s nostrils and mouth and assisting the baby to breathe using a special apparatus.

Failure of a baby to cry immediately after birth is usually due to the reduction of blood supply to the baby’s brain. This poor supply of blood to the baby’s brain happens while the baby is in the mother’s womb in the few weeks before she is due to deliver; it can also happen just before and during labour period leading to the birth of the baby.

Some of the conditions that can reduce blood supply to the brain of a baby while he or she is in the womb or during labour include:

1. Bleeding from the private part of the pregnant mother due to the premature tearing away of the placenta from the wall of the womb
2. Abnormal location of the placenta in the womb
3. Intake of hard drugs and alcohol by a pregnant woman
4. When the labour of a pregnant woman lasts much longer than what is normal due to the baby being too big to pass through the birth canal or a part of the baby’s body getting stuck in the birth canal
5. Rupture of a pregnant woman’s womb during labour
6. Disease conditions like hypertension, diabetes, sickle cell in a pregnant woman

A baby born premature or after 42 weeks of pregnancy may also fail to cry immediately after birth.

A baby who did not cry immediately he or she is delivered is at risk of some very bad medical conditions that may manifest later in life, like from 2 years after and throughout the adult life. These include a condition in which the now grown-up child is unable to stand or walk, talk or learn things unlike his age mates; such a child may also develop a type of epilepsy which he suffers for life.

The lesson here is registering for antenatal care very early (around 2 to 3 months) in a good hospital that has a qualified medical doctor and attending the antenatal clinics regularly will lead to the prevention of some the conditions that can reduce blood supply to a baby’s brain. Regular antenatal care will enable the early detection and treatment of other causes of this condition in a woman. It will guide the doctor to follow up such pregnant women to ensure their labour and delivery are under thorough supervision and done in a health care centre with the necessary facilities to get the baby to quickly cry if he or she fails to cry after birth.

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Written by Dr. Okechukwu Amako, MB;BS (Ibadan)

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Tags: antenatal care, birth asphyxia, child birth, child delivery, diabetes, diabetes in pregnancy, hypertension in pregnancy, sickle cell anaemia in a pregnant woman