Scientists Explain Why Women Have Complicated and Difficult Childbirth

Scientists recently revealed that giving birth in humans is much more complex and painful than great apes. Studies show that humans have relatively bigger brains and narrower birth canals or pelvis, which is necessary for walking upright or bipedalism.

The difficulty of giving birth

Every day, the World Health Organization says that around 830 women die due to complications linked to childbirth and pregnancy. Pregnancy complications are more significant for women who had unsafe abortions, diabetes, and cardiac diseases.

Major complications responsible for 75 percent of maternal deaths include severe bleeding after birth, infections, high blood pressure during pregnancy, and complications from delivery.

Childbirth is more difficult for humans because our babies have relatively large heads, but our birth canals have limited dimensions. This tight 'fetopelvic' fit increases the risk of obstructed labor, which has potentially dire outcomes for both mother and child. It has long been thought that bipedalism or walking upright prevents further widening of the human pelvis, Science Daily says.

When giving birth, the fetus navigates a narrow, convoluted birth canal typically by bending and turning its head at different phases of labor. The complicated procedure poses a significant risk during birth, ranging from extended delivery to stillbirth and even maternal death.

A narrow birth canal also enhances pelvic floor functionality. Muscles of the human pelvic floor play a vital role in supporting inner organs and the heavy fetus and in maintaining continence in women.

Many people may wonder about the advantages of a narrow birth canal. According to Katya Stansfield from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, despite the disadvantage of having a narrow birth canal, their research found that smaller pelvic floor or birth canals are biomechanically advantageous for organ and fetal support development.

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The problem with walking upright

Bipedalism, or walking upright, happened seven million years ago and reshaped the hominin pelvis into a natural birth canal.

As per the Smithsonian National Museum of History, walking upright may have helped our human ancestors survive the diverse habitats where they lived at the time.

Scientists believe that the evolutionary solution to developing a small birth canal and bigger brain was to give birth to neurologically immature and helpless newborns with a relatively small brain, a condition called secondary altriciality.

Altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth but become mature after birth with the help of their parents.

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Prolonged learning and cultural development

As per SciTech Daily, the australopithecines may have practiced cooperative breeding even before the genus Homo appeared. Compared to the great apes, australopithecines developed longer outside the uterus. The prolonged period of learning is crucial for humans' cognitive and cultural development, as per Martin Häusler from the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich (UZH).

The prolonged learning also paved the way for the development of stone tools which date back to 3.3million years ago, way before the first humans appeared.

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