so what are the physiological benefits of a lotus birth?

[nappyaddict]

none of the spiritual crap i've read about the baby being at one with it's placenta.

all i've read so far is

"The placenta still contains nutrients and antibodies which continue to pass to the child through the umbilcal cord during this process. It also supports the child's young liver, because the placenta continues to pump out toxins while still providing oxygenated blood to the child."

"They receive quite a bit of extra blood, rich in nutrients and oxygen, that boosts their immune system, and the placenta helps their liver by filtering toxins from the baby's blood as long as the pumping continues."

"Because the placenta still contains nutrients and antibodies, some see it as wasteful to simply discard it. Many parents do it to give their child a jump start on nutrition by letting their child receive the full blood volume of the placenta, high in nutrients."

But doesn't the baby stop getting any blood and nutrients from the placenta as soon as it is delivered/the cord stops pulsing? if this is the case is there any point to having a lotus birth?

"Oxygen flows to the baby until after the placenta is dispelled from the womb so that he is never completely oxygen deprived until after the cord is cut. He continues to receive nutrients and be relieved of toxins as long as the cord is intact."

I have heard sometimes the cord stops pulsing before the placenta is delivered. If this happens is the placenta still pumping out toxins/delivering oxygenated blood to the baby or does the placenta stop doing all that when the cord stops pulsing regardless of whether it has been delivered yet?

Well, I had one and the rate at which the cord dries up is much faster if the placenta is attached, so presumably there's still some stuff going into the baby.

But the clincher for me is that you never get the horrid, oozy clamped stub, which is prone to infection. Mine was the first my mw had seen and she thought it was great for just this reason, no risk of infection!

I cut it off after 36 hs, and by then it was totally dry, so I don't see the benefits beyond that.

Not sure about any spiritual side either.

i don;t think you should necessarily refer to others' birth choices as spiritual crap

The baby gets all the benefits of the blood that is in the cord....and a major benefit is that the mother and the baby spend more time together in the first few days as having baby and placenta still attached can put people off holding the baby.

don;t know about more physiological benefits, but for women who have had an intervention free birth, then this would be the natural conclusion.

there might not be any phyisiological point, but emotionally it can be beneficial.

but do you get any more benefits from the blood than if you were to just wait until it stops pulsing?

i don;t think so, but am willing to be corrected, once the cord has stopped pulsing, then there is no way for any blood left in there, to get to the baby, if it is not already there anyway.

hopefully someone else with a bit more knowledge can asnwer that !

have never heard of lotus birth before, what is it?

instead of clamping and cutting the cord, the baby , cord and placenta all remain attached until the cord falls off .....the placenta is often salted or perfumed with something, and wrapped in a little bag... more here

I plan to wait until the cord stops pulsating to have it cut this time around, but I can't see any benefits beyond that. I tend to look to what happens in nature with stuff like this.... mother animals don't leave the placenta attached, they chew it off (am deliberately ignoring the fact that they eat the placenta after that). So I don't think leaving the placenta to shrivel and dry is a natural thing and not sure how it would be beneficial.

I can see heaps of benefit to the baby getting all its blood back before the cord is clamped and cut, though.

does the cord usually stop pulsing before or after the placenta is delivered?

Dont think there are any 'physiological' benefits to the baby of a lotus birth, aside from the documented benefits of delayed clamping and cutting the cord (for at least 2 minutes).

Once the cord stops pulsing, no more nutrients or blood etc can pass through to baby, so the placenta becomes redundant.

I don't see how salting and perfuming the placenta can be considered natural. If you want natural, wouldn't you bite it off? Isn't that what animals in the wild do (correct me if I'm wrong).

nappyaddict - in most nhs hospitals, the cord tends to be clamped and cut within seconds of delivery, unless specifically requested otherwise by the mother. Then delivered a few minutes later.

Left to its own devices, the placenta would naturally stop pulsing as the cord starts to spasm and the babys circulation changes from fetal to neonatal (this is quite complicated so you would need to google it if interested) and the body would expel it, normally within an hour or so.

So to cut a long story short - stops pulsing (one way or another!) - then delivers

agree belgo, I wonder if theres a name for that kind of birth?...........

when i had ds i waited for the cord to stop pulsing but i think they still gave me syntometrine to deliver the placenta.

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could tell me about their views or experiences of lotus birth? Would you recommend it?

Thank you