Obstetrical Dilemma

The obstetrical dilemma is a very complex yet necessary component of human evolutionary development. Millions of years ago, when humans were evolving into upright bimodal beings, development of biological and behavioral prerequisites that were necessary for survival took place. Reliance on “tools, language, and symbols” were important for survival and the size of the brain grew. The brain size of humans now is three times what is was a couple million years ago. Increased brain size meant that there would be a shift in the lifestyle of humans. Humans became hunter gathers and the shift towards bimodal locomotion was necessary. As the hip bones rotate forward to allow for upright movement, it freed up our hands so that we could utilize tools and make more with our time.

The problem with the rotation of the hips forward was that in females, the outlet for babies shrunk. With the shrinking of the mother’s pelvic outlet and the increasing brain size of human babies, the birthing process became more complex. On average, human births were longer in duration, more risky, and more “energetically costly for mothers and fathers alike.” When comparing pelvic outlets of other primate species compared to humans, only the human fetal cranium exceeds the diameter of the mother’s pelvic outlet. Birthing became difficult.

The solution to the obstetrical dilemma seemed to be giving birth to increasingly less neurologically mature babies. Out of all primates, the human baby is the least neurologically mature. What this meant for human development was that it called for a greater infant-parent relationship to aid in the infant’s growth. In comparison to other primates, humans are born premature and cannot survive unless there is a warming relationship with the mother. In this day and age, hospitals take away from this important part of an infant’s life by separating the infant from the mother at birth. Furthermore, drugs are given to the