No. Letting babies cry doesn't do anything for their lungs.
It's absolutely vital for the infant to take that first breath. Crying is synonymous with breathing.” The first minute of life has been called one of the most dangerous, because in those 60 seconds an infant must inhale for the first time, causing millions of tiny air sacs to open and fill with air.
Other bad signs are fast breathing, grunting with each breath, bluish lips, or retractions. This means the skin pulls in between the ribs with each breath. It is a sign of trouble breathing in younger children. Children with severe breathing problems can't drink, talk or cry.
Newborns normally have irregular breathing, so you need to count for a full minute. There should be no pauses longer than about 10 seconds between breaths. Pulling in of the ribs when taking a breath (retraction)
Breath-holding is when a baby or child stops breathing for up to 1 minute and may faint. It can happen when a child is frightened, upset, angry, or has a sudden shock or pain. It's usually harmless but can be scary for parents, particularly when it happens for the first time.
Signs and Symptoms
Is your child breathing faster than usual? Retractions - Check to see if the chest pulls in with each breath, especially around the collarbone and around the ribs. Nasal flaring - Check to see if nostrils widen when breathing in. (“Ugh” sound), wheezing or like mucus is in the throat.
Immediate action required: Call 999 or go to A&E if:
your child is having difficulty breathing – you may notice grunting noises or their tummy sucking under their ribs. there are pauses when your child breathes. your child's skin, tongue or lips are blue. your child is floppy and will not wake up or stay awake.
Grunting. Flaring of the nostrils with each breath. Bluish tone to a baby's skin and lips. Pulling inward of the muscles between the ribs when breathing.
High-pitched, squeaky sound: Called stridor or laryngomalacia, this is a sound very young babies make when breathing in. It is worse when a child is lying on their back. It is caused by excess tissue around the larynx and is typically harmless. It typically passes by the time a child reaches age 2.
Young babies don't develop the reflex to breathe through their mouths until they are 3 or 4 months old. Studies show that mouth breathing while the baby sleeps may be due to some blockage in the upper airway, including the throat and nose.
Laryngomalacia is a common cause of noisy breathing in infants. It happens when a baby's larynx (or voice box) is soft and floppy. When the baby takes a breath, the part of the larynx above the vocal cords falls in and temporarily blocks the baby's airway.
Babies love to be held, touched and reassured that you're there, so settling in a cot on their own can often be difficult for them. Your baby's missing your touch and attention, and they're letting you know about it (NHS, 2019). From their very first hours of life, babies will cry when separated from their mothers.
If the baby is very large in size & it was a difficult delivery, the baby may not cry. If a baby is premature. If the baby has multiple congenital irregularities, a baby may not cry. Non-progression of labour & Obstructed labour, a baby may not cry.
Your doctor may try to stimulate the baby's first cry by drying the baby off or suctioning fluid out of their mouth or nose, if it doesn't occur naturally. If a delayed cry is accompanied by other emergency signs, the baby should be given immediate medical attention.
They breathe mostly through their noses and rely heavily on their abdominal muscles to take deep breaths (whereas adults rely on the chest muscles and diaphragm). This means that a baby's stomach will move more than her chest when she takes breaths.
Wheezing. A tight, whistling or musical sound heard with each breath may indicate that the air passages may be smaller, making it more difficult to breathe. Stridor. A sound heard in the upper airway when the child breathes in.
Most cases of RDS occur in babies born before 37 to 39 weeks. The more premature the baby is, the higher the chance of RDS after birth. The problem is uncommon in babies born full-term (after 39 weeks).
Difficulty breathing or fast breathing with tugging of the chest muscles. Gray or blue-tinged skin color (this typically shows up on the lips and fingernails) Wheezing–a high-pitched noise usually heard when a child exhales. Apnea (stopping breathing)
Normal breathing for a baby — newborn to 12 months — is between 30 - 60 breaths a minute, and between 20 - 40 breaths per minute while sleeping. Contrast that with a normal adult rate, which is 12 - 16 breaths a minute and you will see that babies breathe a lot more quickly than adults.