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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Original poster

lotus birth

62 replies

oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:03

for those of you who don't know, lotus birth is where you keep the placenta and cord attached to the baby until it drops off naturally.

has anyone done this after their birth experience? Could I ask why? And did it achieve what you wanted it to achieve?

Friend, whom I plan to be a birthing partner to, wants to practise this and I would like to know more about it.

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motherinferior · 18/04/2005 11:31

So it's a completely new, ersatz ritual, is it.

I have no problem with burying it - sort of wish I'd buried mine, seems a bit of a waste to chuck it out - but no, not carting it around, there are limits, new babies are bloody stressful at the best of times.

Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:32

thanks snafu. I was sharing that website with my colleagues yesterday but I'll have a better look at it today.

Motherinferior, no. Her plan was a two year detox before trying to conceive.

I personally got pregnant the day after my period finished - a highly unfertile time generally!

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Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:33

incidentally, my 3½ year old placenta is in my fridge...

was going to cook it up for friends if I had enough takers but only had one. LOL!

Soooo, then we were going to have a naming ceremony but never got round to it.

Must do that this year!

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snafu · 18/04/2005 11:33

ARM is Association of Radical Midwives, oatcake. Here's the link Some quite useful stuff.

Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:33

no fridge! that would be rank! Freezer!

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Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:35

thanks again snafu! Of course I knew about ARM - it had totally slipped my mind! Get some great info from there.

I just kept thinking about Artificial Rupture of the Membranes... [busy day yesterday...]

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Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:35

shame about the terrible colours they use for the site...

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snafu · 18/04/2005 11:36

LOL! Yes, bit confusing!

Gobbledigook · 18/04/2005 11:38

What's the point of this, what is it supposed to achieve?

It looks gross and must smell hideous.

As if a new baby isn't work enough without having the placenta to carry about as well.

hub2dee · 18/04/2005 11:42

oatcake, not that I agree / disagree with your friend / client but I can appreciate the idea behind it, and personally don't find it so unbelievable / disgusting - as long as there had not been scientific studies which showed the practice was dangerous.

It's not for dw and I, but I can see how certain individuals might want to do this.

Personally, I had been contemplating burying the placenta in the garden and planting a tree for beanette. Although I'm a veggie and don't really enjoy handling meat / fish, and doubtless would feel a bit sick at moving the splodgy-looking thing around, I think it would be nicer to bring this incredible organ which has sustained kiddo for 9 months home and have it degenerate into the soil in my garden than for it to be disposed of in a hospital incinerator. (Although if that's your choice it sounds emminently sensible too !!!)

I wonder if, from a sociological perspective, there are groups / societies of people for whom this is 'routine' / 'ordinary' ? I may be wrong, but the temple in the picture looked like it might be a Mormon church, possibly this practice is popular in that religious group (or a certain part of that group) ?

Now you all think I'm a tree-huggin whacko.... maybe that's better than a hairy trucker ?

LOL.

SPARKLER1 · 18/04/2005 11:46

Oatkcake - pleeeeease tell me you are joking. I can't bear it.

Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:48

well, hub2dee, that's what I've got to find out. But as I said, I think that research will be limited because it's not a popular practice here... but elsewhere I don't know...

In between women yesterday, I found a site which refered to lotus birth and native americans and maoris but just need to read the text that went with it.

Incredible organ? Absolutely: Respect to the placenta!

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biglips · 18/04/2005 11:48

faint ... i couldnt handle anything like this oatcake (puke) it was bad enough when i has to wait for the cord to fall off its belly button

Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:49

no, not trolling. all true!

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Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:49

But.... No MNer's ever done it?

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SPARKLER1 · 18/04/2005 11:52

Oatcake - do you really have it in your fridge?????

Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:54

No, it would mind by now! I meant my freezer. And yes, I do....

Next to my 12 year old wedding cake...

... oh, I'm sounding a bit weird now myself, aren't I... perhaps I'll just get on with my essay...

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Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 11:54

MING not MIND. Where is my head today!

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SoupDragon · 18/04/2005 11:55

I thought, from vague memories of reading one of the sies before, that there was no (or very little) evidence of this being practised anywhere. It's simply not natural given that in nature the placenta is chewed off.

SPARKLER1 · 18/04/2005 11:55

....and would you really eat it????? How would you cook it? I am so curious, although feeling very pukey right now.

ggglimpopo · 18/04/2005 11:57

Message withdrawn

Original poster
oatcake · 18/04/2005 12:00

I, personally would have given it a go as would one other friend but it seemed a shame just for the two of us in case it was revolting.

You would just chop it up and cook it like liver with onions and make it into little canapes or a sort of meat loaf.

Hugh Fernley Whittingstall did just that about 7 years ago on his cooking programme for a natural living family who wanted their friends to be intimatly included in the celebration of the birth of their child.

A few guests declined but as I remember, most of them tried it including the veggies who were rather confused about whether they should or should not be eating it...

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hub2dee · 18/04/2005 12:05

LOL@ confused veggies !

V. interesting point from Soupy.

motherinferior · 18/04/2005 13:57

I tell you, it's a made-up ritual, this one. As opposed to burial, which as I say I can see the point of. But don't think DP would have done, and HE's the gardener in the Inferiority Complex

Kiwifruit · 18/04/2005 14:03

Hi Hbu2Dee I'm from NZ, and the Maori bury the placenta after the birth and plant a tree over it. I have friends (both Maori and European) who have done this in the back garden, but not sure what you're supposed to do if you sell the house and move! I think traditionally the placenta was buried on tribal land (but I could be talking through a hole in my head...).

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