Lotus births

I'm about to facilitate a lotus birth in the next couple of weeks, have helped with advice with a few couples who were considering lotus births and they went on to have one. I have had a lotus birth myself (for experimental purposes) and found the whole experience really soothing and would so it again if I were to ever become pregnant again. My midwife made me a placenta bag and I made the coarse salt mix with geranium and lavender added to it. With my baby, the cord dropped off at day five although it will be sooner in hot weather really. There wasn't any offensive smell to it, in fact, my baby has never had a bad night's sleep and she is 27 months. I think the benefit comes from the hormones emitted from the musky smell of the placenta. Placenta is really inoffensive smelling when you don't handle it with rubber gloves and inco pads. You wash the placenta in cold water after it is delivered, and then sit it in a colander for 24 hours to let it drain.

Sorry lotuseater silly question...how did you dress your baby ??

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Was unsuccessful again , but will keep trying !!

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind......Gandhi.

In a babygown really, the type that has a drawstring bottom? Mind you, my baby wasn't dressed for the first 24 hours or so, and when we did put a nappy on her, we just fed the cord under the wrap so that we couldn't tug on it by accident.

What I meant to say was, I think there is little involvement required from the attending midwife when it comes to a lotus birth. They just need to ensure that the cord is kept whole and attached to the placenta, the whole preparation of the placenta etc. normally gets done by the woman or her partner.

do you carry the colander around with the baby or put the baby on the draining board? (only joking)
Is there any research to prove the benefits of this approach?

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Laugh in the face of the devil Eat Chocolate

Hi nappysack

no, there isn't any research to prove the benefits, just anecdotal stuff.

ETA: I didn't really leave upstairs where my bedroom is for two weeks, except for meals, so for the first 24 hours, the placenta just sat on a waterproof mat on the bed.

I would have thought it is more of a natural method, rather than having any specific benefits?

Well, Freefall, some would argue that it isn't 'natural', that it is more of a modern ritual. Regardless of what it is seen as, I see it as not being of any harm to the mother or the baby. In my instance, it was actually a good thing and it was something that helped me focus on the labour and birth during my pregnancy as I was doing all the preparation of the salt etc. Some people feel they need to blow their credit card to the max by buying baby stuff +++, I chose to have a lotus birth. It made me quite determined to have a normal birth, if anything.

There are a few articles on lotus birth, one is in vol 4 of the practising midwife, i will get the proper ref and post it.
Also Sarah Buckley and jenny Hinch have written on it. I personally know of 3 people who have had a lotus birth in the last 3 years, and one of the advantages is that mums tend to have proper lying in period with baby as often the baby is left to be a lot more. it can have spiritual meaning to some and in some cultures.
The withwoman website has some information on it, as does the ARM website (www.radmid.demon.co.uk). Will dig out the refs I have on this topic too.

My preceptor has about 10% of her couples do a full lotus birth. Many cut the cord at the 24 hour postpartum visit. I had two of my babies with her and wanted to cut the cord at about 60-90 minutes postpartum because it starts to get kind of cold and clammy – I would be way on the early side of cord cutting for her clients. Personally, I'm fine with cutting at any point after the placenta is out, but my preceptor asks parents to wait at least an hour before cutting.

If the parents are planning a full lotus, we put herbs and salt on the placenta. Either way, it gets wrapped up in a chux pad with duct tape so it's just a compact, clean little bundle at the end of the cord. Until the cord falls off, it is a constant reminder that the baby is still making the transition to extrauterine life and definitely contributes to taking the "lying in" time more seriously. Even the moms who cut at 24 hours usually spend that whole first day skin-to-skin in bed with their baby.

Anecdotally, a physiologic third stage is faster with an unsevered cord, and the cord stump falls off more quickly than if the cord was cut. We have published studies of benefits to premature babies with "delayed" cord clamping (of 30 to 45 seconds after birth!!!!). As with so many other things, as Sara Wickham says "why do we feel we need research evidence to support the argument for not intervening?" The cord will remain intact until it falls off unless someone cuts it. It makes sense to me to let the mother's wishes guide the timing of that.

Interestingly, Lisa Barrett (independent midwife in Australia, amazing blog) has a couple who did a lotus cesarean: http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/04/...o-surgery.html