# Do all children cry at birth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033 "2017-08-07T19:48:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/1 "2017-08-07T19:48:55Z")
Are there any exceptions other than crying for live births. Are children born without a sound or even smiling perhaps. What is the predominant emotion at the end of life…ie moment of death. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/2 "2017-08-07T19:53:09Z")
I recall reading that when Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, he was so quiet that the doctor thought he was dead. I’d imagine that non-crying-but-live babies are fairly common. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/3 "2017-08-07T19:54:38Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > What is the predominant emotion at the end of life…ie moment of death. It depends on the manner of death… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/4 "2017-08-07T20:13:41Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > It depends on the manner of death… Snu Snu? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/5 "2017-08-07T20:52:38Z")
The stereotype of doctors spanking a baby to make it cry at birth used to be literally true. Babies generally cry at birth probably from the sudden cold, and if they do, you know they are breathing. However, if there is meconium in the amniotic fluid, the baby has probably just aspirated a bunch of it, and it is an invitation to bacterial growth, and therefore pneumonia. Precautions have to be taken with babies who aspirate meconium. Babies are no longer spanked if they don’t immediately cry on their own. Now they are suctioned first, and then they are rubbed vigorously with towels if they aren’t breathing. If they still don’t breathe, they are respirated with a manual ventilator. My son had to have his breathing started this way, but he had meconium in his mouth and airway, and they got to suction him before they started his breathing. It’s probably why he didn’t get pneumonia. He still had the antibiotics and 12 hours in an isolette. Anyway, yes, most babies cry at birth. I was a candystriper, and I worked on maternity for a year. We’d hear the babies cry each time one was born. I’d guess about 4 out of 5 cried on their own. As soon as they were dried off and warmed up in blankets, they usually stopped, though. Spanking stopped in the 1950s or 60s, probably about the time the Apgar score was introduced. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/6 "2017-08-07T22:10:49Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > What is the predominant emotion at the end of life…ie moment of death. Based on the deaths I’m familiar with, I don’t think there is a predominant emotion. Assuming the death is from “natural causes,” the deceased may have already lapsed into unconsciousness. My grandfather died calling out his (already deceased) wife’s name, so I’d have to guess he was agitated. OTOH, my mother-in-law literally sat down on the couch, took one deep sigh, and died, as peacefully as could be. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/7 "2017-08-07T22:17:22Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Snu Snu? Smiles and crushed pelvises. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/8 "2017-08-07T22:19:44Z")
Neither of my babies cried. I was completely unmedicated, the births were normal and gentle. Both times they started breathing on their own almost immediately. Babies don’t usually learn to smile until they are month or two old. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/9 "2017-08-07T22:28:42Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Based on the deaths I’m familiar with, I don’t think there is a predominant emotion. Assuming the death is from “natural causes,” the deceased may have already lapsed into unconsciousness. My grandfather died calling out his (already deceased) wife’s name, so I’d have to guess he was agitated. OTOH, my mother-in-law literally sat down on the couch, took one deep sigh, and died, as peacefully as could be. When I die, I would like to go peacefully, in my sleep, like my grandfather did. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car. - Jack Handey. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/10 "2017-08-08T00:09:00Z")
I clearly remember my son \*\*not \*\*crying when he was born. My wife had a C-section, and so after the birth he was immediately whisked over to a bassinet in the corner of the operating suite. When I went to check on him a moment later, he was quietly looking around with wide open eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/11 "2017-08-08T00:39:19Z")
It needs to be said that a baby’s crying at birth is not a emotion. It’s an involuntary response to a traumatic condition. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/12 "2017-08-08T04:25:07Z")
According to my mother I didn’t cry at birth. She was panic-stricken, thinking I was stillborn, until the doctor flicked the bottom of my foot. I went “wah!” and was quiet again. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/13 "2017-08-08T11:34:57Z")
When my daughter was given a 9 (out of 10) for her one minute APGAR score, I complained to the doctor that she’d never get into a good college with that score. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/14 "2017-08-08T12:32:43Z")
No, not all babies cry. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/15 "2017-08-08T13:04:50Z")
My daughter didn’t cry - she was suctioned and towelled off, whereupon she gurgled a bit and made that slightly-cranky-but-not-a-cry baby noise and settled down. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/16 "2017-08-08T14:16:10Z")
My son had to have fluid suctioned after birth He was blue upon birth and the delivery team had problems getting a suction line hooked up. It took every ounce of strength I had to suppress the engineer instinct to “help” the team get things working. He did not cry after breathing was established and I followed the nurse carrying him up to the PICU. While in the elevator, his eyes were open and he was staring at me the entire time. I’ll never forget that image. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/17 "2017-08-08T14:27:41Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It needs to be said that a baby’s crying at birth is not a emotion. It’s an involuntary response to a traumatic condition. An emotion is a type of involuntary response. Perhaps you mean to say there’s no cognition involved. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/18 "2017-08-08T14:31:12Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When my daughter was given a 9 (out of 10) for her one minute APGAR score, I complained to the doctor that she’d never get into a good college with that score. Well crying is worth 2 on the APGAR so maybe she didn’t cry loudly enough. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/19 "2017-08-08T14:54:38Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Well crying is worth 2 on the APGAR so maybe she didn’t cry loudly enough. Blue extremities. She lost a point for appearance at one minute. She got a 10/10 for her 5 minute score, though.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033/20 "2017-08-08T16:23:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Blue extremities. She lost a point for appearance at one minute… But they didn’t score for personality! Unfair. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-children-cry-at-birth/793033.md?page=2)