Lotus Birth

Lotus Birth is the practice of leaving the umbilical cord uncut after the third stage of labour so that the baby is left attached to its placenta until the cord naturally separates at the umbilicus, generally 1–3 days after birth (as compared to approximately 10 days when the cord is clamped and cut). This prolonged contact can be seen as a time of transition, allowing the baby to slowly and gently let go of his or her attachment to the mother's body.

The common practice is to clamp and cut the cord once the baby is born rather than leave the placenta attached, however, during a Lotus Birth, a special cloth bag or a cloth diaper, called a placenta cloth, may be used to contain the placenta. The cloth used to wrap the placenta must allow air through, so that the placenta can dry out. The placenta is first thoroughly rinsed and then treated by having salt rubbed into it. Sometimes scented oils, such as lavender, are also applied to mask any unpleasant odors.

Different cultural practices use the preserved placenta in different ways. Some people like the child to have the placenta so that it can be buried with the child at the end of his or her life. Others simply keep the placenta until it falls off naturally and it is then buried where often a tree is planted over it.

In the 1970s, Clair Lotus Day—a pregnant woman living in California—became interested in the practice amongst chimpanzees of leaving the cord attached to both newborn and placenta until it simply dropped off. If it was a good idea for chimps, she reasoned, then she saw no reason why it would be harmful for humans. In 1974 she managed to find a sympathetic obstetrician and, after her son was born, she took both the baby and placenta home. Over the next few days her son apparently seemed more content which, Lotus Day reasoned, was because he felt secure in his attachment to his placenta.

Although The Lotus Birth is considered by many to be a New Age phenomenon. Lotus Birth's have been recorded in ancient societies such as those of Native America and Thailand. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, there is a reference to non-cutting of the navel in the book of the prophet Ezekiel.

Source: Wikipedia.org

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I have to tell you, I'm uncomfortable with this on several levels.

-That placenta is going to start decomposing and smell no matter how many scented oils and stuff you put on it. A decomposing tissue mass attached to MY baby? I don't think so. Are you familiar with the word sepsis? All kinds of nasty by-products of decomposition could be circulating into your baby.

-The whole thing sounds too "New Age" at best, astoundingly foolish at worst. The only thing that keeps me from thinking you are totally jerking our chain is that I don't think anybody would type such a long post for a joke.

-There is a serious safety concern here. Besides the sepsis, there is a very real possibility that this child could "bleed out". By that I mean all its blood could drain into the the placenta. It doesn't take much for a newborn to exsanguinate.

This idea is beyond reckless. It's insane. I need to check the date of the original post and make sure it wasn't April 1st.

I went back and read the Wikipedia article that is referred to in this post.

I renew my argument that this is all based on New Age mysticism and has no basis in medical fact. I see no benefit whatsoever in leaving a placenta attached to a newborn. And if the baby is held higher than the placenta there is a very real potential (until the cord does dry out) for all the baby's blood to drain into the dead placenta.

I urge anybody reading this thread and thinking, "Gee, that sounds cool. I wanna do that for MY baby", to reconsider.