How does a foetus breath?

Question

Can a foetus breath in the womb? If not, then how does the heart beat?

Answer 1

I am from the US, so I hope you will forgive me if I spell the word we are discussing in the way to which I am accustomed: fetus.

The fetus does not breathe air. The mother takes in oxygen, and part of the oxygenated blood circulates to the fetus through the umbilical cord. From the umbilical cord it circulates through the fetus' body, and then the de-oxygenated blood passes back through the umbilical cord in a vein, where it re-enters the mother's blood stream and circulates back to the lungs.

Since part of the design of the heart includes vessels leading out to the lungs and then back to the heart, there is a small opening between the atria (the two upper chambers of the heart) called a foramen ovale. The blood goes through there and bypasses going to the lungs at all. Once the child is born, and the umbilical cord is severed, the blood supply begins going to the child's lungs on its own, and that foramen ovale closes up in the first couple of years of life (for most people). The beating heart is necessary to ensure circulation to all the developing areas of the fetus' body, and to keep tissues supplied with blood. It's just that the actual breathing, the physical act of taking air into the lungs, that is done by the mother.

In case you were wondering, the blood supply through the umbilical cord is also where a fetus gets all its nutrients from food. Once the food is broken down and digested by the mother, the nutrients enter her bloodstream. They circulate through the fetus, as well, supplying things like iron and protein, which are necessary for the fetus to continue developing. Again, once the child is born, its own body takes on the job of breaking down food and absorbing the nutrients in it. That's why babies start out on milk or formula; their stomach and intestines are not able to digest solid foods for a while.

Answer 2

A developing baby does not breath the same way that we do...thye receive their oxygen through the umbilical cord. However, throughout the time it is in the womb, it practices breathing by swallowing amniotic fluid. One of the processes that occurs during childbirth is the squeezing of the baby as it passes through the birth canal helps press out much of this fluid so that it can take it's first offical breath upon birth. The heart beats because it is receiving neural impulses from the brain to do so...this is necessary to circulate the oxygen the baby is receiving through the umbilical cord.

Answer 3

This is a facinating thing about the birth process.

The baby doesn't breath.....the baby shares the blood flow from the mothers blood through the umbilical cord. The blood flow of the heart isn't as it will be once born. Part of the pressure of exiting the birth canal the lungs expand and with that first cry the heart valves open up the way they need to be to breath air, rather than circulate the blood from the mom.

Answer 4

A fetus breaths in the amniotic fluid. The heart is one of the very first things to develop and one doesn't have anything to do with the other at that time. Brain function also starts forming fairly early, but the heartbeat is the first thing. The lungs form later and fully develop around 35 weeks gestation or somewhere around that vacinity. I could be wrong on the weeks but the lungs are one of the last things to develop fully. It could be earlier than that. I know my nieces were born at 25 weeks and lived, although they had to have breathing done for them via ventilator and other things, but they survived. Your child is protected by the placenta and the amniotic fluid is sterile. The fetus has basic lung function at a certain point. Also, the umbilical cord brings blood supply to your baby.

13 weeks and 6 days pregnant.

Answer 5

The mother's lungs oxygenate the babies' blood. With 50% more blood volumn for the mother...she has no problem breathing for the both of them. When the baby is born, it is the first time the baby actually breathes real air as opposed to having it's oxygen and CO2 exchange done by the mother. The heart beats like your heart beats and starts beating before the mother even knows she's preggo many times. A different "cycle" around it's body, but it switches to "normal" the moment the cord is cut. a switch occurs instantly and a flap in the heart closes instantly....creating normal blood flow around the body and such.

Answer 6

The foetus doesn't actually breath...Oxygen is fed through the blood stream via the umbilical cord attached to the mother's circulatory system. The unborn baby is immersed in fluid in the womb,so is unable to breath with lungs,as we do.

Answer 7

it gets oxygen through the umbilical cord from the mothers blood. the baby lives almost as an organ of the mothers , until birth.

Answer 8

In simple terms, the foetus receives fresh oxygenated carrying blood, that enters the baby thru the umbilical cord and into the babies blood stream.

So technically, it does not breath, but is fed oxygenated blood.

Answer 9

The baby can practice breathing by breathing amniotic fluid into his/her lungs, (the amniotic fluid is safe for it to breathe in) but doesn't actually get oxygen through it. The way that the baby gets its oxygen is the same way it gets all its other nutrients: through the umbilical cord. Pregnancy, what the mother's body and womb can do for the baby, and developing babies really are an amazing things aren't they?

Answer 10

FETUS!

The answer is: he/she doesn’t. A baby’s first breath usually happens at birth when he begins to cry. While in the womb, his lungs are filled with fluid and are not involved in supplying oxygen to his body. Baby gets his oxygen from the mother, via the umbilical cord. He also gets his nutrients from mother the same way. This is why it is important that a pregnant mother eats healthy food, and breathes healthy air (i.e. don’t smoke).