The neural control of breathing must adapt dynamically during development, unlike more static processes like vision development.

“So, there are changes happening in your brain and your body, where the neural control of breathing has to change on the fly. It's not like for things like vision where you have the opportunity to sleep and while you're sleeping, the brain is capable of doing things that are not easy to doing during wakefulness, like the construction crew comes in during sleep. The change in breathing has been described as trying to build an airplane while it's flying.”