The Internal Grandmother

by Sara Wickham

"Amongst the Indian tribes of North America there's a belief that the soul lives in the birth organs; when the cord and the afterbirth have dried up and dropped away they're tenderly gathered up by the mother and arranged in a sacred fabric that she have woven during the pregnancy. This bundle is then buried secretly, and retrieved whenever the tribe moves. This bundle is presented to the grown person when they appear to have children who will survive into adulthood. The mother lays the bundle into the arms of the person with this statement. Today you are a man, or woman, and I return this to you, for you to look after. I have protected you soul all of your life; now it's up to you."

It is only in the last few generations of humankind that the placenta has been so carelessly discarded, disregarded, sold on to cosmetic companies or happily left behind, an unpleasant reminder for some of what is perceived as the 'messiness' of birth.

For our great-grandmothers, the placenta would have held a different meaning. Some cultures, as above, regard the placenta as a sacred organ and use this to celebrate spiritual rituals associated with birth and the baby's life. Ancient midwives may have used the hormonal and nutritional strength of the placenta to strengthen the mother after a difficult birth, or to prevent post-partum bleeding or depression.

As in many other birth practices, we are beginning to see a reclamation of ancient traditions and attitudes in the way women and midwives are viewing the placenta, and in the way this organ is being brought into the rite of passage that is birth. Whether women are choosing to bury, eat or retain their placenta, or in some cases to leave this attached to their babies until it falls off naturally, there is a noticeable increase in the way we are becoming more conscious of this incredible organ.

The placenta has been variously described as "the internal grandmother", "the baby's cake" and "the baby's home". It is interesting that many of the different cultures who have ways of celebrating the placenta justify this in relation to their spiritual beliefs. In Thailand, the placenta is buried, a ritual which holds deep spiritual meaning for parents. read more. A couple of years ago, I met a Hungarian obstetrician who explained that some of the people she worked with believed that cutting the baby's cord less than six or seven inches from the body was an insult to the baby's aura. She explained that the cord should not be cut less than this distance because the baby's aura might be harmed by doing so.

In other cultures, lotus birth is practiced. In this ritual, the umbilical cord is left uncut and the baby and placenta remain as one for several days, until the entire cord and placenta naturally separate from the baby, a few days after birth. Many believe that this allows a more gentle transition for the baby, and enables the child to have an element of choice in when s/he leaves her 'tree of life' and becomes truly independent in the world.

So is lotus birth natural? Would our ancestors really have practised this? One group of midwives I know have historically chosen to cut the cord relatively soon after birth, on the basis that this is what some primates are seen to do. Would our grandmothers really have left the placenta attached in this way? Is this an ancient ritual, or a relatively new one?

Unfortunately, we cannot say for sure. But, as Michel Odent points out in his introduction to "Lotus Birth", we need to re-learn what birth can be like when it is not disturbed, using non-interventive reference points such as lotus birth in order to do so.

Often, the midwife will assist the mother in 'preparing' the placenta after the baby and placenta are born. Although there are a number of ways of doing this, the method with which I am familiar involves spreading out a clean towel or nappy, filling this with a mixture of salt and dried herbs (specific herbs may be chosen for their spiritual or medicinal associations) and placing the placenta on top of this. More salt and herbs are gently packed on top of the placenta, and the towel is then carefully secured, so that it can be carried around and / or placed next to the resting baby.

One of the most interesting features of lotus birth for me is the marked difference which having the placenta attached makes to the degree to which the baby can be passed around to relatives and friends. Although women who choose rituals such as lotus birth may also be more likely to practice some degree of postnatal seclusion (or 'babymooning'), there may be an advantage here for the women who are not secluded, yet still end up spending more time with their baby because of the increased difficulty involved in passing a baby around who is still attached to her placenta. Some of the sites below which discuss lotus birth also comment on how sensitive the baby seems to be to having the placenta touched, a fact which both supports the argument that the placenta may remain an important organ for the baby after birth and also feeds in to the baby needing to be kept relatively still and undisturbed in those early days following birth.