Re: Birth announcement--umbilical cord!!!?

[Michelle Haines]

From: "Rebecca Allbritton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

> C'mon, Michelle, go for it. =) What's a lotus birth?

It's a bizarre practice in which the mother leaves the placenta attached
to the baby after the birth, until the umbilical separates on it's own,
keeping it wrapped in a diaper and washing it once a day. The theory
behind it is there's some mysterious benefit to squeezing the placenta
into the baby whenever you wash it (which is a ridiculous extension of
the idea that it's better to keep the cord intact until it stops
pulsing, which is a good thing) and that the umbilical site will heal
faster. It only has a few proponents, usually of the loony type.

Michelle

Flutist