Generally, is head size smaller & birthing easier for African compared to Non-African modern humans?

Based on the fact that Non-Africans have some significant percent of Neanderthal genetics (99.7 similar, 4% exclusive?) in their physiology, compared to Africans who have virtually 0% exclusive neanderthal genetics.

That Non-Africans humans are more genetically similar to ancient Neanderthals, than even fellow Africans humans!

And that Cromagnons/Sapiens and Denisovans contributed to modern humans some degree of smaller cranium - compared to Neanderthals' significantly larger head.

I'm not aware of any Andropogenic studies especially for head size and birthing ease, does anyone knows? Perhaps a study on possible higher need/incidence for c-sections in non-africans americans than african-americans, or something along those lines.

reply to post by minnow


Can you cite some sources? I am not familiar with the figures you mentioned, and would like to read up on it. Thanks!

You will hear a black woman scream just like a white woman, asian woman, or indian woman during birth....

Someone is WAY over thinking things.

I'm not sure about birthing but pulling your head out of your backside can be extremely painful, no matter what race you are.

the ease or difficulty of birth depends more on the mothers pelvis shape, and the size of the baby, not the babies head. When the baby enters the birth canal the head conforms and sometimes the fontanelles (bony part of newborns skull structure) will actually overlap to help with this. Where you can get in to trouble as far as babies getting stuck and not fitting really comes from the babies position and their shoulders. so I don't think the size of the babies head would really make it easier or harder.

I've never heard of such a comparison.
I've Given birth both ways. Maybe a better statistic to look at is the type of delivery and the sex of the baby.
More times than not, i see that when a mother is having a girl, it requires cesesrian.
I was born that way, my cousins daughter, my daughter, step sister's daughter, her friend,and a ton of other ladies all had girls with c-section. As For my son, he came out the natural way. Maybe there's something to it..

Or not..

Originally posted by RN311
the ease or difficulty of birth depends more on the mothers pelvis shape, and the size of the baby, not the babies head. When the baby enters the birth canal the head conforms and sometimes the fontanelles (bony part of newborns skull structure) will actually overlap to help with this. Where you can get in to trouble as far as babies getting stuck and not fitting really comes from the babies position and their shoulders. so I don't think the size of the babies head would really make it easier or harder.

Very true. Newborns typically have a pointed head shape, where the head was squeezed and conformed to the birth canal.

My great-grandmother, who was a midwife, once told me that the shoulders were the largest part of the baby. Once the head was out, she would rotate the baby (if it wasn't already in position) so that the shoulders eased through. If the shoulders are too large, this is usually when an episiotome or tearing occurs.

And yeah....all women sound the same!

why do I get the feeling that this topic is some new angle to debate the Obama birth certificate or something...

Originally posted by smyleegrl

Originally posted by RN311
the ease or difficulty of birth depends more on the mothers pelvis shape, and the size of the baby, not the babies head. When the baby enters the birth canal the head conforms and sometimes the fontanelles (bony part of newborns skull structure) will actually overlap to help with this. Where you can get in to trouble as far as babies getting stuck and not fitting really comes from the babies position and their shoulders. so I don't think the size of the babies head would really make it easier or harder.

Very true. Newborns typically have a pointed head shape, where the head was squeezed and conformed to the birth canal.

My great-grandmother, who was a midwife, once told me that the shoulders were the largest part of the baby. Once the head was out, she would rotate the baby (if it wasn't already in position) so that the shoulders eased through. If the shoulders are too large, this is usually when an episiotome or tearing occurs.

And yeah....all women sound the same!

very true!! some of the scariest delivery's I've seen and or been a part of are when you have shoulder dystocia (shoulders get stuck) it's very nerve racking because the baby can die from lack of o2 because of a compressed cord, it can cause the mom to hemorrhage, the baby sometimes end up with a broken clavicle which can cause all kinds of nerve damage to the affected arm.