When it comes to placenta, many mums are already aware of the many methods of preserving this nutritious organ after your baby is born.
Capsules, smoothies, burial rituals. We thought we'd heard it all. Nope.
Enter the 'lotus birth'. As mums know, the placenta is the final step in the delivery process. The organ is discarded by medical waste, while tradition dictates that the umbilical cord connecting the baby to it is snipped by Dad. However, some parents are delaying cutting the cord and instead, letting it detach from the entire placenta on its own.
Photos of parents practising the 'lotus' birth show mums and dads holding their newborns while the placenta, still attached to the baby's belly button via the umbilical cord, sits in a basin nearby.
For these lotus parents, the supposed (but unproven) benefits are numerous. It's claimed lotus birthing helps babies fight off infection, severe jaundice, and immune system diseases by keeping the baby attached to the mother's blood. They also say this leads to intense bonding between the mother and child, more so than plain ol' nursing and cuddling.
Although this isn't the first time lotus birthing has made the news, judging by a recent spike in people Googling the term it seems like more and more parents are opting to give it a go - despite not being scientifically proven to be beneficial for the baby.
In fact, the trend has irked some in the medical profession. You might know Dr Jennifer Gunter, who's dubbed the Twitter's 'resident gyno'. She's called BS on a host of trends such as vaginal steaming and jade eggs (both courtesy of Gwenyth Paltrow) as well as herbal detoxing your hoo ha.
Speaking to ATTN, she touched on the subject of lotus birthing: "Why anyone with an understanding of modern microbiology would promote leaving a newborn attached to dead, decomposing tissue that could be a [source of] infection is beyond me."
She said that because the placenta is dead tissue once it is ejected from the woman's body, the nutritious function of it is now defunct: "Bacteria grows very quickly in dead tissue and stagnant blood."
