• Question: why do we have to have a baby out of our vagina?

    Asked by fayeadamou to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi Fayeadamou,

      Because we’ve evolved like loads of other mammals to grow our young inside us, so we can protect them, keep them warm, and provide nutrition for them while inside a womb! And obviously, what goes in, must come out so we had to have someway of getting the fully grown baby out and that is why we have a vagina. Of course, babies can also be delivered by C-section too but through the vagina is the way that we’ve evolved to get the babies out into the world!!

      I hope this answers your question!

      Cat

    • Photo: Holly Shelton

      Holly Shelton answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Great answer Cat. Of course non-mammals lay all different sorts of eggs (birds, fish, repliles, insects all do this!) so their young have a diferent sort of fight on their hands to be born! 🙂

    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi fayeadamou,

      That’s how mammals evolved! Some creatures use different methods, like eggs, but humans and mammals use a pregnancy and delivery route which is quite specific to our ancestors.

      I couldn’t answer why babies strictly are delivered through the vagina, or even through C-section (or Caesarean section, where the baby is taken out through the mother’s lower chest).. But the reason that we aren’t born from eggs is actually related to our intelligence.

      The human intelligence is a product of brain size. The main reason we have become so intelligent, and also similar creatures to us like monkeys, is because this method of being born allows for a much bigger baby in development. If you consider an egg – the maximum size of the creature is limited by the egg, and all things from eggs have tiny, tiny brains.

      The way we are born allows for a huge baby to be created before its birth, so that its ‘starting’ brain size is huge compared to any creature created from an egg!! That is a big big reason for our method of baby delivery!

      I hope this helps answer you!

      Daz

    • Photo: Pamela Lithgow

      Pamela Lithgow answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi Fayeadamou,
      Some great answers already. I will see if I can add anything!
      One thing is that when the baby gets squished to come out of the vagina it stimulates the baby. This gets the baby ready for being in the world instead of in the womb. So that is one reason that it is good that the baby comes out of a vagina.
      I would also like to add to Darren’s interesting comments about eggs and how big babies can be. He is right that there is some restriction by the size of the egg but the amount it can grown is also restricted by how much food it has. In an egg the animal only has as much food as there is in the egg where as if you carry the baby (like mammals) the baby has a constant supply of as much food as it needs!
      I hope that adds something.
      Pam 🙂

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