The Human Baby as an External Foetus

by Deb on September 17, 2009

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{ 7 comments }

Capricious September 17, 2009 at 10:35 am

My gosh, this actually makes total sense. And it makes it so much easier to deal with a rough night and a needy day knowing it!

Anni Taylor September 19, 2009 at 6:58 pm

I haven’t heard the term ‘external foetus’ before but for some reason I like it. It does describe the intricate care we must give babies in order for them to survive.

I’ve seen a program where the shape of a woman’s pelvis was being discussed in relation to the difficulty of birthing babies, and it does seem true that the ‘design’ could do with a few tweaks!

Annie September 21, 2009 at 8:11 am

I was talking to my mum about this the other day, trying to explain why I wear my babies as much as possible, sleep with them, feed them on demand etc – its because they really do need to still be with their mums for the first 9-12 months. So cool to see some more information on this, thank you!

Deb September 27, 2009 at 9:32 pm

You’re welcome, it’s a pet theory – I love it when you get lots of different lines of evidence that back something up. I’d really like to look at some of these old fossils from the point of view of baby carrying – having had fairly clingy michelin babies myself I just don’t see how it would have been possible without the baby being able to hang on or a carrier!

Sandi November 21, 2009 at 1:03 pm

I often refer to this as the 4th trimester.

ngyuntju March 12, 2011 at 9:22 pm

I am in science nerd heaven. Great blog, thanks!

daisy swadesh June 23, 2012 at 5:57 am

I once found this illustration in a book, and have been trying to find it on the web every since. This one shows the differences very clearly.
The change in the configuration of the pelvis to adapt for bipedalism made the birth canal a bottleneck. The only possible solution to permit increased brain size is greater post-natal brain development.
But once increased post-natal brain development began our brains could grow much bigger. A human baby’s brain doubles in volume in the first year and continues growing at a slower pace; a chimpanzee’s brain doubles in volume in 5-6 years.

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