The
stress of being born
In a series of studies Hugo Lagercrantz and collaborators found that there is an enormous surge of catecholamines at birth, higher than at any other moment during life. Together with the American scientist Dr T. Slotkin he published an article in the Scientific American 1986 with the title: The
Stress of being born. They showed that the high amounts of adrenaline and noradrenaline mobililized at birth is of vital importance for the onset of air breathing, lung liquid absorption, metabolism, shunting of blood to the most vital organs, thermogenesis etc. Infants who were delivered by elective cesarean section were found to suffer more from respiratory problems (wet lungs), hypoglycemia and hypothermia.
These findings are corroborated by a recent study showing that some of these problems can be prevented by pretreating mothers with a beta-adrenergic agent (terbutaline) before elective cesarean section.
The role of the adrenal medulla for the
stress response is further investigated by Dr. Hans Holgert. Dr Giovanna Marchini has discovered that the common skin exanthems of the newborn is a sign of the activation of the the immune system at birth.
Infants delivered by elective cesarean section without labour often develop ”wet lungs” due to lack of catecholamine stimulation of lung liquid absorption, why their lung compliance increase more slowly than in vaginally born infants.
From Lagercrantz& Slotkin: The
stress of being born, Scientific American 1986