Lotus Birth

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Lotus Birth is the practice of leaving the umbilical cord uncut after childbirth, so that the infant 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 minutes when the cord is clamped and cut). This prolonged contact can be seen as a time of transition, supposedly allowing the baby to slowly and gently let go of his or her attachment to the mother's body.

1 Postpartum
2 Modern origin
3 Ancient origin
4 External links

[edit] Postpartum

The common medical practice is to immediately clamp and cut the cord once the baby is born rather than leave the placenta intact. However, during a Lotus Birth, a special cloth may be used to contain the placenta, and the cord is wrapped up to an inch from the neonate's navel. 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 drained in a strainer. Salt may be rubbed into it to help dry it out. Sometimes scented oils, such as lavender, are also applied for their antibacterial properties.

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

[edit] Modern origin

Early American pioneers, in written diaries and letters, reported practicing nonseverance of the umbilicus as a preventative measure to protect the infant from an open wound infection, in an environment of sustainable ethos. The children of these first generation settlers were reknown for living longer and healthier lives than their urban kith and kin.

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 her 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 cord and placenta.^{[citation needed]} The practice gained further notice in the yoga practitioner community, when Jeannine Parvati, author of the first book on prenatal yoga in the West, practiced nonseverance for two of her own births.

In the 1990s, Sarah Buckley MD, an Australian physician and noted parenting advisor for the magazine Mothering, published her personal birth stories in the text Lotus Birth, and has produced numerous scholarly publications on the topic.

[edit] Ancient origin

Although a Lotus Birth is considered by many to be a New Age phenomenon, Lotus Births 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 (chapter 16, verse 4). [1]