Umbilical Cord Wrapped Around Baby's Neck

This is probably the most common fear/misconception/opportunity for learning shared by my students and clients. “We want to do a home Birth but what if the baby has the cord wrapped around their neck, will they suffocate?”

The Nuchal cord is a term used by medical professionals when your baby has their umbilical cord wrapped around their neck. This can occur during pregnancy, labor, or birth.

When a baby is born with the cord around their neck, one, two, three times they are fine. Babies do not breathe through air passage ways, nose or mouth, so unlike a human out of the womb using their lungs to survive, the baby will not choke. They receive their oxygen from the placenta & through their bellybutton and the umbilical cord. So cute ☺️ and AMAZING.

A nuchal cord is also extremely common, with around 1 in 3 babies being born perfectly healthily with the cord wrapped around their neck. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3428673/

You may be more likely to get a nuchal cord if:

* you’re having twins or multiples

* you have excessive amniotic fluid

* the cord is especially long

* the structure of the cord is poor

There’s no way to avoid a nuchal cord and they’re never caused by anything the mother has done. There is no way to “treat it”, it is not cause for a c section or induction, ever…

If it’s a TRUE knot, this could cut off oxygen to your baby which is why twins who share a placenta should be monitored and potentially born by c section, to avoid the development of cerebral palsy in baby B (the twin that would exit 2nd in a vaginal birth).

Around 1 in 2,000 births will have a TRUE knot in the cord, in which case there are some associated risks. Even in these cases, it’s rare for the cord to tighten enough to become dangerous. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22699359/

Any complication that arises from a nuchal cord is extremely rare.

When looking for a medical provider make sure to ask them how they feel about nuchal cords.  If they say it requires an intervention, they don’t have the training to unwrap it at the moment of birth, or don’t have the confidence. Next!!

God Bless Mother Nature ❤️

Warmly,

Eyla