Birth plans??

Has anyone thought about a birth plan yet? I was just reading my friends birth plan and she definitely likes to take the more natural approach with things. A couple of things on her list were delayed cord clamping and delaying the baby's 1st bath.

Apparently, delaying the bath is beneficial to the baby and acts as a lubricant while postnatally, it exhibits antioxidant, skin cleansing, temperature-regulating and antibacterial properties. She's planning on massaging it into her baby's skin and wait a few hours before baby is bathed for the 1st time.

Just wondering what you ladies are planning and if you have any thoughts on these two topics? :)


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When DD was born she had her 1st bath about 12hrs after birth, im not sure if that is standard practice here in Australia, or just a timing thing because she was born at 3am, so the nurse that did the bath may not have been there yet? I haven't really thought too much about my birth plan. Things i definatly want is no drugs, DP to cut the cord, thats about all i can think of so far, i will be interested to see what others are doing :)

Hm I've never heard that about the bath before! Interesting! Our DS got his about 12 hours after as well, I think that's pretty normal here in Canada too.
I am having a planned csection (& very happy to be!) so that is my plan! Smooth epidural and smooth surgery - just like DS was :) Fingers crossed!

I don't really believe in birth plans , there are things I prefer but I never have a written plan. I don't vaccinate at birth and no paci is allowed to be given and I don't like much medicinal intervention. Inducing is the only thing I am against.

have hb's so don't really need to worry about things they do here in hossys like cutting cord immidiately,taking babe ou of room, epi's,ect. do talk w/ mw about how you want birth to be(quiet or big party,lotus,cndles,music,ect.)
very different than talking w/ an ob(well the couple i have met and friends) and not stressing if your "birth plan" will be honored.

I wrote a birth plan for my first that went completely out the window so didnt bother with ds2 but after it being so"technical" and me being instructed the whole way through i decided for number 3 and my homebirth i would do it exactly how I wanted so i wrote a very detailed birth plan after doing lots of research and i agree with the cord cutting - i asked to wait for mine to be done too butt he bath thing ive never heard of.
There were other silly things like i wanted dh to help deliver the baby at the final push and be the first one to hold him and to tell me the sex. Important stuff like i didnt want to checked and told how far dilated i was. I didnt want pain relief ( which at the time i begged for but lucky my doula was so strict and said nope your birth plan says no pain relief and so i didnt get any and im so pleased she was there to be strong for me !!!)
I have a template from my old ones if anyone does want to have a gander just let me know. Remember this is your birth so you should have it the way you want.
For me it was important i wasnt lying on my back - standard in hospitals so i made sure i wrote that down. I also said i dontwant a line put in "just in case" they need to give me medication which again is common practice in hospital.

I didn't write a birth plan for any of mine. I just sort of went with the flow lol.

My DS's didn't get given baths until the next day after deliveries but this was just how it seems to be in the local hospital. I remember thinking how yuck it was that all my relatives were holding my babies as they had bits of birth (get my drift) dried on there heads ha ha ha that is love ;)

Birth plans are like prom night- they never go as planned or are as magical as you think they'll be. Lol.

I made a birth plan they never looked at it but with my third I made it very clear there would be no cord cutting till it was done pulsating and let me tell you it was the best and most amazing thing ever

I've never made a birth plan with any of my boys and probably wont, but with my last baby I really wanted to do skin to skin and I didn't even ask... totally forgot. They kept my baby in the warmer for almost 2 hours to regulate his temp. I'm definitely requesting skin to skin with this baby. I'm interested in learning more about the cord clamping and delayed bath though.

This is one of the the links I found...
Routine Newborn Baby Care Procedures

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Originally Posted by Wanting-a-girl

I made a birth plan they never looked at it but with my third I made it very clear there would be no cord cutting till it was done pulsating and let me tell you it was the best and most amazing thing ever

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Hm what is the benefit of waiting till the cord is done pulsating? I've never heard of this lol with having a csection I don't think I have a say since they wanna finish the surgery ASAP of course but just curious

Look into it I thought it was amazing its so calm! I will be doing it again....I did it because my middle son is autistic and we paid 20 grand to take him for stem cell treatment 3 years ago and I figured well I'm just gonna give my baby his stem cells at birth... Also another reason I chose it is cause some people think that cutting the cord can cause lack of oxygen to the brain and can contribute to autism and when my autistic son was born I remember him having breathing issues after the cord was cut..

It's s amazing tho you get your baby and the baby is soooo calm no crying cause they are still breathing through the cord

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Originally Posted by Wanting-a-girl

Look into it I thought it was amazing its so calm! I will be doing it again....I did it because my middle son is autistic and we paid 20 grand to take him for stem cell treatment 3 years ago and I figured well I'm just gonna give my baby his stem cells at birth... Also another reason I chose it is cause some people think that cutting the cord can cause lack of oxygen to the brain and can contribute to autism and when my autistic son was born I remember him having breathing issues after the cord was cut..

It's s amazing tho you get your baby and the baby is soooo calm no crying cause they are still breathing through the cord

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Oh that's neat never knew that, I'd look more into doing that maybe if I wasn't having a csection!! Interesting info though

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Originally Posted by cvd

Oh that's neat never knew that, I'd look more into doing that maybe if I wasn't having a csection!! Interesting info though

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I just read about it from the link Brandles posted, you can still do it with a c/s, it just takes longer for the cord to stop pulsating, like 20 mins.

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Originally Posted by Cinss

I just read about it from the link Brandles posted, you can still do it with a c/s, it just takes longer for the cord to stop pulsating, like 20 mins.

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Hm really? I am sure the doctor's here in Canada would be totally against leaving me open for 20 minutes. But I may bring it up when I see her later in pregnancy - they're uber quick in and out here

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Originally Posted by cvd

Hm really? I am sure the doctor's here in Canada would be totally against leaving me open for 20 minutes. But I may bring it up when I see her later in pregnancy - they're uber quick in and out here

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Thats true im sure the doctors would want to lower the risk of infection to you and all that jazz :)

Ya the drs here in canada won't do it one of my friends wanted to do it after I told her and they refused to do it

Ya Cinss and wanting-a-girl that's what I was thinking! But from that I've read about the eye ointment which is something that I CAN control and also interesting lol!! This is a very informative thread for me haha

If ur havin a c section there is really no reason for the eye ointment

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Originally Posted by Wanting-a-girl

If ur havin a c section there is really no reason for the eye ointment

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Ya I read that and I know my DS got it for sure! Thanks for bringing up great info!

yes the eye goop is to protect against ghonorrea(sp?) and chlamidia.
delayed cord cutting def. a good thing you'd think doc would be pushing this and waiting at least 5 min. seems every bit helps-
Timing of cord clamping

There has been an increasing number of studies published with regards to the timing of cord clamping, including a 16-month study which was published in 2006. You can read more about that study here. It was conducted at Hospital de Gineco Obstetrica in Mexico City, where over 350 mother/baby pairs were part of the study.

This study, consistently with many others, has provided solid evidence of the benefits of delayed clamping. The main benefits being:
•Increased levels of iron
•Lower risk of anaemia
•Fewer transfusions, and
•Fewer incidences of intraventricular haemorrhage.

A two-minute delay in cord clamping increased the child’s iron reserve by 27-47 mg of iron, which is equivalent to 1-2 months of an infant’s iron requirements. This could help to prevent iron deficiency from developing before 6 months of age.

Another study has been released in 2007 from the University of Granada which has similar findings, you can read it here.

While delayed clamping is beneficial for babies across the board, the studies found that the impact of delayed clamping is particularly significant for infants who have low birth weights, are born to iron-deficient mothers, are premature, or those who do not receive baby formula or iron-fortified milk. Given that mother nature provided breastmilk for babies and not formulas, you would think she also supplied that valuable source of iron for a reason too. You may have noticed that formula companies promote iron deficiency rates to sell their products.

The studies have suggested that delayed clamping, for as little as two minutes, should be implemented as standard practice, however this is yet to happen at many hospitals. Some couples choose to leave the cord unclamped until it has stopped pulsating, which could take a few minutes or it could take around twenty – either way, the baby is able to have his or her supply of placental blood.

I'm loving this thread and all the info!!!

atsaukina1~ thank you for all the great info you posted... I've fwd'd it to a couple friends already!! :)

The one downside of the cord clamping is that it does increase jaundice.... I took that risk I knew he was gonna get it anyways cause my other 2 sons had it cause I'm rh- Ezra however did have it worse than my other two he ended up in the hospital under the light for a night

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Originally Posted by Wanting-a-girl

The one downside of the cord clamping is that it does increase jaundice.... I took that risk I knew he was gonna get it anyways cause my other 2 sons had it cause I'm rh- Ezra however did have it worse than my other two he ended up in the hospital under the light for a night

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are you saying delayed cord clamping increases jaundice???
or the reg. way hospitals do it?

my good friend just went through some jaudice with her son and docs pushing formula and lights all day and she ignored them and kept nursing(as she should) and nature did it's thing and he is fine.

Here's a great video of an explanation to delayed cord clamping:

Delayed Cord Clamping Explained

my mw just shared this video on fb too-
90 Seconds to Change the World: Alan Greene at TEDxBrussels - YouTube
if docs could only have 5min for their "patient"
funny how iron supps are very constipating and foods that contain it naturally aren't at all-
nature rocks:)

try climbing out of a birthing pool and waddling across the hall to the bedroom with everything still attached haha good times:awe:

Waiting to clamp cord can increase jaundice

And Jaundice can increase risk of autism. Choose your poison I guess huh?

Yup that's right! Thought him getting his own stem cells was worth the risk considering he is already high risk for jaundice from my rh factor.... Who knows what causes autism I really wish they would hurry up and figure it out.... Ezra didn't get the jaundice too bad at all tho the dr said if we did the blood test 30 mins later he would have been In normal range

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Originally Posted by Wanting-a-girl

Waiting to clamp cord can increase jaundice

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def. think that is misinfo being spread not fact-

I read it a lot and warned of it a lot by my drs.... But ya probably every thing these days is either a cancer risk or autism risk so really you got to just do what feels right and I know for sure 100 percent I am doing delayed cord clamping again :)