letting the placenta drop off naturally -

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

don't worry, I'm not planning on it!!! a friend of a friend is apparently planning on doing this. Has anyone ever heard of it? I can't imagine how you would deal with a bloody great placenta attached to your baby for several days!!! (gross!!) but surely the placenta will die and potentially poison the baby if the umbilical cord is still attached? She reckons it's 'natural' apparently. I said I saw my cat give birth and the first thing she did was gnaw the umbilical cords (then eat the placenta!)

[MrsBadger]

it's known as a 'lotus birth' - have a google

it doesn't 'poison the baby' - the cord stops pulsing within minutes of birth so no blood moves from one to the other after that.

the main advantage seems to be no-one else will want to cuddle the baby with that great thing still attached...

[PersonalDilemma]

I remember reading about this a while ago. One can buy little placenta cosies to pretty them up until they drop off

[fiodyl]

OMG how long exactly is it until it falls off on its own? Surely though this is not natural al animals detach their baby(s) from the placenta within minutes of birth whether by scissors or teeth (ewww)

[PersonalDilemma]

I would assume it takes as long as the stump does to dry up and fall off - about 10 days?

[cheerfulvicky]

I've read a bit about this, and although it's not something I'd want to do, I found it interesting. It seems to take around 6 - 10 days to drop off, and they salt the placenta to preserve it and stop it getting smelly meantime, and as said above pop it in a specially made bag to keep it out of the way. The placenta can then be buried under a new tree or something like that, which I thought was nice. Apparently the trees grow really well! And some parents freeze then for years until the child is old enough to take part in burying it themselves.
But yeah, not something I'd be up for personally.