Ask Science @lemmy.world 58008 @lemmy.world 5 mo. ago

[Biology] The umbilical cord: is it 'necessary' to sever it, or is it designed to disconnect on its own eventually?

What are the consequences of not severing it? I imagine you'd have the weirdest bellybutton on earth if nothing else.

Cheers!

65 comments

This is an alternative birth method called "lotus birth" or more formally "umbilical non-severance" in which babies are left tethered to the delivered placenta until their cord desiccates and detaches from their body on its own, usually in 3-10 days, while applying salt to the placenta to increase the speed at which it dries. It will eventually fall off, however, after its delivery the placenta is no longer being supplied with the oxygenated blood it needs to survive, and becomes necrotic (dead). This can act as an easy entry point for infectious organisms to enter the neonate, and can result in life-threatening infections. Neither the American College of Obstetrics or the American Academy of Pediatrics have explicit guidance statements as to whether this should be recommended against. AAP has published that there have been multiple case reports of severe infections with various bacteria secondary to this practice.

This should not be confused/conflated with Delayed Cord Clamping, which is waiting 30-60 seconds after the baby's delivery for some of the residual fetal blood in the placenta to be delivered to the baby's circulation to prevent anemia. This has good evidence for benefit to the baby, is recommended by ACOG, and is basically standard of care in the US.

Source: ACOG and AAP publications, also I'm a 4th year medical student that has completed OBGYN rotations
- ... desiccates... in 3-10 days, while applying salt...
  
  Forbidden jerky
  
  You joke, but there are literally people who eat their own placenta. I know someone who did. Crystals and essential oils and energy healing and all that, you know. I don't talk about that kind of stuff with her because for some reason we just can't seem to find common ground lol
- ...this is why mom animals in nature just eat the placenta and get it over with or something. I saw it on discovery channel
  
  Well they don't eat it to get it off of the baby. While I'm not a vet or a zoologist, my understanding is they eat it for the nutrients as well as to help remove the scent, and newborn animals are easy prey and targeted by predators.
- Lol at leaving rotting meat attached to a baby for a week. Genius.
  
  I personally wouldn't recommend it, I've seen babies die miserable deaths of sepsis and it's heartbreaking. But I'm not going into pediatrics or OBGYN so thankfully this isn't gonna be a discussion I have to have.
- Thanks. Very interesting!
- Why not a middle ground of like a day?
  
  To somewhat play devil's advocate, what's wrong with a minute? What benefit are you expecting from leaving it on longer?
  
  The long and the short is Delayed Cord Clamping is really the only thing we have data for, and that's what we should do without evidence something else is better.
It probably wouldn't make any difference in the appearance of the belly button, because eventually it work dry up and fall off, just like if you were to clamp and cut it. There are definite benefits to delaying the clamping of the cord. There is a lot of blood in the cord and placenta that is lost that could be auto transfused to the baby if the cord is left intact.

The main problem with leaving the cord and placenta intact is that there is a risk for infection or blood loss. Also it would look really gross in the baby pictures.
- My parents cut the cord within a few minutes of my birth, but my umbilical stump/future navel got infected, and my bellybutton is 100% normal.
The real question to me is what happens with animals in the wild?
- Most bite through it when they are in the process of consuming the cord and placenta.
- Nature videos exist and in my area you can go to the county fair and watch cows be born….
  
  Thanks that's very helpful. Especially the part about county fairs—can't get much more "in the wild" than that!
Just gnaw it off
"Oh my God what is that?!"

"It's my umbilical cord..."

"They never removed it when you were born?"

"It's just taped on... It's uh... Just for fun."
Do you want a Quato? Because that's how you get a Quato.

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