In a message dated 12/30/98 1:34:09 PM Central Standard Time,
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<< we saw a birth close up and upon exiting with the baby emerging and being
 bent at the gut it had a "baby heimlich maneuver" and really spit the stuff
 up on his own- really neat to see! but the baby doesn't get that with a C-
 section.>> >>

It is called a "physiologic squeeze" - the neonate must remove fetal lung
fluid present prior to birth and establish adequate lung volume.  As much as
30 ml of fetal lung fluid is removed during passage through the birth canal.
One should avoid passing catheters through the nose and into the stomach for
the first five minutes of life, as this may induce bradycardia.  However, some
infants do have gastric distention from being bagged & masked and this can be
decompressed by OG.  Also, it is normal for infants to spit up some with the
first few feedings but sometimes removing swallowed amniotic fluid/fetal lung
fluid helps, IMHO.
Andrew MD
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