Abdominal breathing for babies
The breathing of babies differs significantly from that of adults in a number of respiratory problems. Due to a greater need for energy and a related strong metabolic state, the newborn child has an increased oxygen consumption. Due to the relatively large tongue, the resistance with which the air must be brought into the lungs is higher than in adults.
In addition, there are small airways and breathing mainly through the nose. Since babies’ ribs are still horizontal, chest breathing is still very ineffective for babies. The tension of the intercostal muscles does not lead to an increase in volume of the thoracic cavity in babies and therefore cannot contribute to breathing.
Thus, babies breathe almost exclusively via abdominal breathing and the tension of the diaphragm. Due to the still relatively weak diaphragm and the mentioned peculiarities of the newborn’s respiratory tract, the frequency as well as the effort of breathing is increased in babies.
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