I think they are different processes because:
(1) We know that “nāmarūpa paccayā salāyatana” is a step in Paṭicca Samuppāda, and like others, each step depends on what anusaya/āsava come up, assuming we are talking about akusala-mula paṭicca samuppāda.
(2) Lal said: The verse, “jāti sañjāti okkanti abhinibbatti khandhānaṃ pātubhāvo āyatanānaṃ paṭilābho, ayaṃ vuccatāvuso: ‘jāti’” describes the birth of a human or animal with a physical body.
So, the above just describes the birth of a human baby, and a baby’s brain is not fully developed, so āsava/anusaya do not come up until later.
I remember that some time ago, we had a discussion as to whether a baby had “distorted saññā“, and we said that it did not because its brain was not yet developed.
Best,
Lang