Umbilical Cord

[nailit]

Why are humans the only animal that has to cut the umbilical cord upon giving birth to their young? No other animals in nature have to do this. Or am I missing something?

[nailit]

Happen I will Tills, plenty of salt and stuff tho.

[nailit]

Thanks Mamy, don't know why Sqad wouldn't have known that tho.

[jno]

by definition I guess it's precisely the sort of thing doctors aren't invited to handle.

[Mamyalynne]

Well as he says, very few Doctors come across that situation, most women who do this have home births anyway.

[nailit]

Maybe jno, just thought that things like this, trainee doctors would have been taught.

[Sqad]

Nailit......trainee Drs are taught to do what is safe, not what is a clearly dangerous practice.

[nailit]

I suppose so Mamy. Still would have thought that trainee doctors would have been taught this stuff tho, its basic human biology.

[nailit]

Thanks Sqad, I appreciate that. But why is it dangerous to not separate the umbilical cord upon birth?

[Mamyalynne]

It's a way that some women choose and is not the norm - it may have been before modern medicine intervened, chimpanzees still do it for example.

I don't see it as a gap in education at all.

[jno]

mother might trip over it and hit her head on the liquor cabinet?

[Sqad]

The baby, attached to the placenta via the umbilical cord is "stuffed" with blood, just sitting there......an ideal medium for bacteria, particularly clostridium ( gangrene).

[Islay]

Sqad leaving the cord attached with all the gubbins would increase the risk of infection wouldn’t it?

[nailit]

//I don't see it as a gap in education at all//
Never meant it to be, sorry if I'm not coming across properly. Not saying that its not beneficial, just wondering why we do it.

[Islay]

Sorry you’re answer wasn’t there when I started typing

[nailit]

Ah right Sqad, so just to be clear, an animal gives birth, but cutting the umbilical cord reduces the risk of infection to the young?

[Sqad]

LOL...."dog with a bone"

In all probabilities YES if you count a human as an animal.

[nailit]

Thanks for ur replies and help Sqad. Don't know why you would view humans as anything other than an animal though!