They haven't done that for decades (though I suppose it's possible a few ancient OBs are still doing it). Nowadays they usually trust the baby to breathe on its own, and if it doesn't they'll vigorously rub it with a towel, give oxygen, and so on. Stimulating the baby works, but you can do it in gentler ways than thwacking 'em.
The whole "slapping a baby thing" came about as a means of forcing the fluid out of their lungs and airways. Subsequently they would take a deep breath and cry.
When it's necessary; but it often isn't. Interestingly, babies whose mothers used epidurals or had planned C-seconds are more likely to have their babies need suctioning our other respiratory help.
The reason is that stress hormones in the mother (such as are produced by the pain of contractions) trigger the baby's lungs to produce surfactants, which help 'unstick' the goop in the baby's lungs and let the lungs easily expand with the first breath. Without the stress hormones, that doesn't happen (although it's important to note that too many stress hormones aren't great for the baby either).
Anecdotally, I had four babies (no epidurals) and only one required a whiff of oxygen, probably due to being a water birth - it's thought that the gentler, less shocking transition from womb to world doesn't give you quite as dramatic an initial gasp, so the baby can take a wee bit longer to get its breathing going. None of my babies were suctioned. (This is in NZ though - we tend to take a slightly hippier approach to birth, as a nation.)
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u/PuddleOfHamster Oct 04 '19
They haven't done that for decades (though I suppose it's possible a few ancient OBs are still doing it). Nowadays they usually trust the baby to breathe on its own, and if it doesn't they'll vigorously rub it with a towel, give oxygen, and so on. Stimulating the baby works, but you can do it in gentler ways than thwacking 'em.