A lotus birth is when you allow the placenta to fall off on its own; the cord is never clamped or cut. I was interested in this for my fourth child's birth (her birth story is here), but we did not have an actual lotus birth. While I found the spiritual aspects of lotus birth fascinating, I was particularly interested in the physical benefits. My first three children all had a generally harmless condition called neonatal polycythemia, and after reading about the timing of cutting the cord at the midwife archives (see link below), I wondered if I could prevent this condition in my next baby. I also liked the idea of having this perfect excuse to stay home in the first few days after the birth; I had never had a real Babymoon with my other children and I was determined to get one this time!
Most babies born in the hospital have their cords clamped and cut immediately after birth. At home, most midwives wait until the cord quits pulsing, which it usually does about 10-20 minutes after birth, before clamping and cutting the cord. This second method was used at my first three births. While reading about lotus birth, I learned that the cord actually continues to pulse at the umbilicus (where the cord connects to the baby's belly button) for much longer than it does at the center of the cord, about 2 hours longer. I wondered if leaving the cord unclamped and uncut would allow the baby's circulatory system to "pump out" any excess blood that was received during the birth. After more reading, I felt that there was certainly no risk to waiting, and possibly great benefit.
Though I planned a lotus birth with my fourth child, we were unprepared for the reality of it. We really weren't sure what to actually do with it, beyond wrapping it in a chux pad and laying it next to the baby. Should we coat it with an herbal mixture? What herbs should we use? Would it be better to salt it? Or should we just leave it alone? Getting settled after the birth, the placenta kept slipping out of the chux pad, so we moved it to a plastic ziploc bag and closed it as much as possible around the cord. But then no matter how hard I tried to keep the bag upright, it would slide down and leak blood on the baby's blanket and my clothes. Looking back, I wish I had thought to put the placenta in a chux pad and THEN into the plastic bag, but at the time I was tired & not thinking straight.
I did insist on waiting until the cord had quit pulsing at the umbilicus to clamp and cut it. This took longer than expected, over 3 hours. My baby did have slight polycythemia anyway, but it was still much less than any of my other children. I am not sure whether the longer wait to cut the cord had any effect on this, but I feel very positive about the experience. If I could do it over again, I would wait longer, but I am still satisfied with how things worked out.
These are the only other sites about lotus birth I have found:
