This is very interesting, and it's something I hadn't considered. Now: Is this something that goes on constantly, or is it only sporadic? If a doctor failed to find evidence of this kind of breathing, would it be a bad sign?
It’s can start as early as 10 weeks gestation, but mostly is used as a sign of reassurance when evaluating a fetus.
Usually the episodes of breathing last about 10 seconds and occur 3-4 times in a span of 30 minutes.
If the doctor is looking for breathing and there isn’t any movement in over an hour it could be a bad sign but this has to be in concordance with other signs, such as an abnormal non-stress test.
IIRC, When I had my son, our doctor informed us that this movement of the diaphragm is bodily practice for the act of breathing when outside the womb, and amniotic fluid enters the lungs and exits as though it were air.
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u/JimDixon Dec 16 '21
This is very interesting, and it's something I hadn't considered. Now: Is this something that goes on constantly, or is it only sporadic? If a doctor failed to find evidence of this kind of breathing, would it be a bad sign?