Mum Reveals How Her Family Shares A Bed With Her Son’s Placenta Still Attached To Him After Lotus Birth

A mother reveals the beautiful yet challenging experience of her family sharing a bed with her newborn son’s placenta, still attached to him for five days after a lotus birth, before it naturally fell off. 

Clara Riba, from Queensland, decided on having a lotus birth for her second baby, Luke, which means his umbilical cord and placenta remained attached to him after birth for days until it naturally dropped off.

For five days, the whole family shared a bed with Luke and his placenta.

“We had a homebirth so I wanted the undisturbed nature of the birth to continue. I always felt I had to do it as gently as I could and let everything happen naturally and not intervene in any way.

“I wanted to honour the placenta because it does so much for the baby,” Clara said.

Lotus birth has many benefits to the health of the newborn, on the relationship between mum and baby, among others. It carries all the benefits of delayed cord clamping by allowing the blood and stem cells to be completely transferred to the baby. “The more spiritual aspect comes once the blood stops flowing. The placenta, cord and baby are one. Cutting it is artificially breaking this unity,” Clara said.

Having a lotus birth is seen as a way of gently introducing the newborn to the world. Oftentimes, relatives are not allowed to see the baby until the placenta drops off, which can take between five to nine days.

In Clara’s case, she didn’t tell her friends and family about her decision and instead, just requested that no one visit for two weeks. “It was our cave and it had to be intact. As soon as you let someone in, the birth magic stops,” she said.

Clara said that her husband, Evan was apprehensive when she first told him about it, but after doing some research, he decided to give it a try. However, when Luke was born in the heat and floods of Brisbane in January 2011 and the placenta started to smell, the reality hit.

She said that she didn’t have a lot of information on what to do. She put rosemary on it to manage the smell but it was not enough. So, she put it in a cloth bag.

She said that by day five, Evan took their daughter out for a walk, and she said to Luke, “Ok your dad has had enough, whenever you are ready, you can kick it off and then we can all have a bath.”

When Evan returned, Luke kicked off the placenta. “I knew then it was a reaffirmation that I had done what needed to be done,” she said.

Clara, who is writing a guide to lotus birth, said that leaving the placenta attached can be challenging and many women end up cutting the cord, but if a mum is up to it, she recommends some ways to successfully do it.

She said that once the placenta is birthed, it is then washed and patted dry. She suggests putting it in a breathable container such as a bamboo steamer. It should be thickly coated in rosemary powder which is changed every day and then wrapped in a cotton cloth.

After a couple of days, when it has dried out, it can then be put into a cloth handbag which can be carried around with the baby. However, some women choose not to move the baby from the bed while the placenta is still attached. “You don’t carry your baby as much so it has time to go from a liquid state in the womb to a solid state,” Clara explained.

She also advises putting breast milk on the belly button regularly.

Clara said that after Luke kicked off his placenta, she stored it in the freezer until they moved into a new house where they buried it in the garden.

She said that having a lotus birth is a challenging but rewarding experience. “At times, it is tough. There are moments where you just want to hold your baby and live your normal life and carry your baby. But you need to trust your intuition. At, the end it is worth it. When the placenta comes off and the baby is smiling,” Clara said.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk