When the baby is in the mother's
uterus, it can't eat or breathe on its
own, so it needs some help. The baby has a little
tube that goes to its middle called the umbilical
cord. The umbilical cord goes to the placenta,
which connects to the mother's uterus.
Here's how it works. First, the food that
the mother eats and air that she breathes get
into her bloodstream as very tiny pieces called
molecules.
These molecules, or tiny pieces of food and
air, travel through the mother's bloodstream
to her placenta. From there, they go to the umbilical
cord and into the baby's body. That's
how the baby eats and breathes inside the uterus.
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