cord wrapped around neck twice - complications

[Palmwoods]

does anyone know of any complications from a baby being born with the cord around its neck twice?

DD1 was like this, she wasnt breathing well at birth, but after a few breaths of oxygen she was fine. Terrifying at the time though

sometimes the baby can need some help to get started, as Jinxed has said..it would depend how tightly wrapped, and how long baby might have been distressed by this, during birth, lots of baby;s are born with the cord around their neck, or wrapped around them...doens;t make it any less scary for the mum though

I aparently had the cord wrapped round my neck twice, and I'm fine, allegedly.

Hope everything is OK.

Ds2 had his cord round his neck and would get really freaked when I dressed him for about 10 days or so, but other than that he's fine. Does "anxious" baby well, but I think that's temperament.

i had a very chilled out birth, with a great midwife - that was the only complication. ds wasn't crying when he was born and had a low apgar at first but the second score was fine so obviously he was ok. ds is five months old now and really, really unsettled. im desparate for answers and was wondering if this could have anything to do with it. it's a longshot!

i think he is just an intence little boy that likes lots of attention and needs very little sleep!

yes, 'anxious' baby would describe ds to a tee too !

DS4 had the cord round his neck when born too, they kept having to take blood samples form his scalp through labour, it got very low and i had to push him out at 8cms or emergency c-section. They had to unwind him from the cord.

He has mild aspergers, don't know whether this was to do with the birth or not. He was the easiest baby i have had, he loved just laying in his cot rather than cuddles with mum . Hardly ever cried.

my ds had this too, and after a floppy start was ok.

Have you thought about Cranial osteopathy? i think this can sometimes help babies who had a traumatic birth, and also help babies who seem unhappy/difficult.

idobelievein fairies - my ds also was extremely laid back (to the point of blobbiness really ) and has dyspraxia, attention issues and other problems. I think some people consider there is a link with a traumatic birth/pregnancy, but I'm not sure it has ever been proven.

Yes, am trying cranial osteopathy at the moment. I haven't notice a huge difference though.

I think there must be pollyanna, that is one of the first things that the h/v..doctors, physiciatrists etc (very bad spelling) asked 'what was his birth like'.

He is improving all the time though, zilcho sense of humour though unless it involves toilet humour (but hey..aren't most 8 year boys like that?)..lol

My ds1 was born with the cord wrapped around neck twice. Also a whole host of other complications which I won't bore you with. He didn't breathe for 5 minutes, his second Apgar score was 2. As far as we know there are no obvious sequelae (although the 'anxious' thing is setting my mind racing now!) He'll be 5 in September.

Palmwoods...if his apgars picked up quickly, then it is more likely that he was not too traumatised...his temperament might just be anxious, or harder to settle

also, this can be a growth spurt time, so might be a bit hungrier than usual...

lulu, how bad is an Apgar of 2 at 5 minutes? Just out of interest. No-one really told us anything, we just picked stuff up on the internet

My dd had the cord around her neck but I didn't find out until I was pregnant with my second baby and I was shown all my records. I had an emergency c-section after induction as her heartbeat dropped a little - didn't get told why at the time. She had a high apgar score (9) and was fine in every way. In some ways, looking back, maybe it was better not to know at the time as it would have worried me sick. My dd was quite unsettled at around 3-5 months - I assumed it was colic - and I did try cranial osteopathy with some success. Of course, as I didn't know about the cord then, I didn't think about that as an issue. Good luck!

i'm pretty desparate at the moment, for answers and sleep! i was just wondering about the cord issue and if it contributed but you are right - his second apgar was fine it's unlikely it has anything to do about the cord around his neck.

he just needs a chill pill! i'm beginning to think it is just his little personality. he has been hard work right from the word go.

i'm going with the theory, hard work baby equals easy teenager! this should get me through the next few months of sleep deprived nights.

dd had the cord round her neck, her heartrate was dropping with every contraction and I had a roomful of people on standby when she was born, including a paediatrician. Her apgar was fine, and so is she.

hello greeny.. was asking where you were last week...good to 'see' you

" ^When the score at one minute is seven or lower, it implies that the baby may have experienced some difficulties during labour or the birthing process that lowered the oxygen content in the blood. Notice the emphasis on the word ?may?. There are many babies with lower Apgar scores who have completely normal oxygen levels and for one reason or another simply get vigorous a little later.

A lot of myth and mystery surrounds what this score means. Parents get nervous that a low Apgar score means the baby will have significant problems either in the near future or later on in life. This is not the case, just as it is not true that having a high score eliminates the possibility of future difficulties. The score's only purpose is to alert the midwife to the fact that the baby may need assistance. It also allows the midwife to monitor the effectiveness of any interventions. If the score goes up, it implies the interventions are working.

A lot of research has been done on the Apgar score to see if it can be used to predict those who will have problems such as learning difficulties, cerebral palsy, seizures, etc. These studies have shown it to not be reliably predictive, proving that the score is great for what Dr Apgar originally intended it to be and nothing else: a quick, easy way of figuring out if a baby needs help.^"

Just copied and pasted this from iVillage

Apgars are done at 1 minute and then 5 minute post birth....a lower score obviously indicates baby needs help, and if it remains low, then indicates baby needs more help

2 is certainly very low, I guess the relevant info would be how long did it take to get him going properly....if he was not breathing or responsive for a long time ...really, your hospital should have debriefed you...but i know they were absolutely vile to you and i can well imagine they left you in the dark

My ds also had cord tight round neck, midwife couldn't move it. Cord was cut when I delivered his head, but he didn't breathe, and was blue when he was delivered at next push. His apgar was 2 also. I was really worried but my GP reassured me, he said that babies are designed to go through these things and bounce back. He is now 6 and has no problems, very lively- gorgeous!

My niece had hers wrapped 3 times round her neck and once round her shoulder as well.

Although she needed some help to get breathing and spent the night in SCBU, she's now a healthy, bright 10-year-old.

Palmwoods - how old is he? My ds had terrible sleep patterns to about 5 months ( did cc then) but is a brilliant sleeper now.

I'm amazed how common it is! Reassuring in a weird way as I felt sick when I heard about my dd - it sounded so dramatic and scary.

cornsilk - he's almost 5 months but he has been a dreadful sleeper from about two weeks old onwards. He got chickenpox at 15 days old and that's when it all went pear shaped.

i've tried everything!!! i've started to wean him and food time is his happiest time of day, although he doesn't seem to be settling any easier. he loves his bath also, so i'm thinking i might just feed and bath him all day long, just to get some peace!

Cords around the neck are really common - about 30% of babies. My DD had the cord round hers, twice. No problem, we just looped it around, it was a bit awkward as it was a short cord but we managed. Remember that babies do not breathe until they are born - they have a gasp reflex that kicks in when they feel cold air on their bodies (Mears can correct me on any of the technicalities of this but that's basically how it works) which is how babies can be born underwater and not drown. So if the cord is around the baby's neck the baby is not being suffocated as they are getting their oxygen through the cord. The cord itself is tough - the blood vessels inside are wrapped in membranes and have a jelly like coating to protect them. Even knots in the cord can occur without any problem. Babies are often blue when they are born, with or without there being a cord around the neck. They pink up once they start breathing. A cord around the neck or body is generally only a problem if the cord is too short to prevent delivery or cannot be unwound as the baby crowns - in this case it might need to be clamped and cut before the baby is out. Then of course it is very important to have the baby born quickly as they have no oxygen supply once the cord is clamped. So if you have a big baby or shoulder distocia (stuck shoulders) then it's a problem. Of course sometimes babies are compromised in some other way, or go into distress, and might also have a cord around their neck but it does not necessarily mean that the cord caused the problem, it's just coincidental. As for long term effects, the cord in itself would not cause any, only if there were other problems as above. I have seen a video about life in the womb, I foget what it was called but it was about babies remembering what happens to them before they are born - there was a young girl who had been born with a nuchal cord and she liked to play a game of wrapping a scarf around her dolly's neck over and over. It was a bit freaky, to be honest!

My DD was an emergency section because she got herself all wrapped up (twice round the neck, one around torso, and the around one foot). She is a restless little 4 year old now. And I reckon her restless personality is what got her wrapped u in the cord in the first place. Shoul have named her Tarzan.

I don't think this poses long term effect on personality/behaviour.