Human umbilical cords are clamped and cut to prevent bleeding. Yet other animals either naturally tear or chew the cord without excess bleeding.
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The umbilical cord will naturally seal off within about an hour of the birth.
So we don’t need to we just do it to get it out of the way.
A cut umbilical cord still bleeds and makes a mess. Animals don’t care about that, but humans do. There’s enough going on during a birth without having to worry about the baby constantly dripping blood. It’s clamped to minimize the mess and make the newborn a little easier to handle.
Like many aspects of the modern birthing process, that’s more convenient for doctors. Lying on the back with feet elevated is not the ideal body position for natural delivery but it makes it easier for doctors to get in there so that’s how it’s done
We want to get the cord detached so doctors can examine the baby and make sure there are no major problems. This is easier without the cord in the way, but there’s still a lot of blood in the cord so just cutting it would make a pretty big mess, so it’s clamped to make things easier.
More recently, doctors have started delaying clamping and cutting for a minute or so. As the baby wakes up and starts breathing on their own, they can start to pull back in some of the blood from the cord, gaining some vital nutrients.
Having said that it’s not required. The flow between the baby and the placenta/mom will stop on it’s own shortly after birth and the cord will fall off on it’s own.
Am I wrong in thinking that all the other mammals bite it off?
There is a movement by some folks to not cut the umbilical chord at all. The umbilical chord is attached to the placenta which will come out shortly after the baby. If the chord isn’t cut then the baby, chord, and placenta will all be together for a few hours or a few days until the chord kind of withers and detaches. I have no idea if there are any studies showing any actual benefits, or if it’s just part of a keep it natural movement. They say that the placenta keeps passing nutrients to the baby. You can google “lotus birth” if you are interested in it, you can also see cute little wrappings for the placenta to keep it all nice and snugly.
Cheers
It’s a procedure implemented by modern medicine. To the detriment of the babies health. It prevents the transfer of blood volume and immune cells to the newborn. The umbilical cord is rich with red and white blood cells being pumped out of the placenta into the newly born baby in prparation for life outside the womb. Ideally you wait for the cord to stop pulsating before cutting it. Some people choose a lotus birth and keep the baby attached to the placenta until the cord falls of naturally. Sadly it is yet another way modern medicine has sabotaged birth and taken away women’s power. Birth is not a medical emergency, women’s bodies evolved for birthing babies over millions of years.
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