How long can a baby be underwater during a water birth?
ByIf the umbilical cord has not been cut, is the baby still getting oxygen from the mother, or will the baby instinctively gasp for air the moment it comes out of the birthing canal? I was just wondering because I am really considering having a water birth but didn’t know if there is any risk of “drowning” (sounds ridiculous, I know, he’s in water for 10 months) =P Thanks!
Oh yeah and if anyone has had a water birth I would love to hear your experiences
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5 Comments
January 28th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
it is generally safe to give birth in water and yes baby for a very short time gets its oxygen from mom still after being born but you shouldnt give baby his first swimming lessons right then either if you know what i mean! after baby has completely left the vagina he should be swiftly picked up anyways to do an apgar score….good luck!
January 28th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
someone asked this the other day in the newborn section… here is the link if you want to check out the answers she got
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmkvBanF69f4dmy2wWtGYFjsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20091215204953AAhOIEt&show=7#profile-info-azE51WGRaa
January 28th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
i was told that babies dont breathe air until touches air, so i would assume that it wouldnt matter since it would still think it was inside the womb. but i really have absolutely no idea.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
It is ultra-rare for the baby to breathe before coming out of the water. You should wait until the cord stops pulsing (feel for it) before you allow it to be cut. Make sure that the baby is born 100% submerged. This is why there are special birthing tubs with sterile liners. You don’t want to be giving birth in a bathtub.
I just had a home water birth in June. It was great. I was only in the water during transition, so I didn’t find it the “water epidural” that most people do, though it was nice just being in the water. I rotated between sitting and on hands-knees positions while in the water. It happened that baby crowned while on hands-knees, so that’s how he was born. He came out and the water was completely clean. We pulled out of the water immediately and he started crying. I felt for his cord to stop pulsing, then the midwife cut it. This is when the water got nasty, because the blood kind of poured out of the cord a little. I held him for about 15 minutes in the water and then passed him off to my husband. I stood up and delivered the placenta (which was the only icky part, to me). I came out of the water very clean and baby was very clean. We nursed and I showered. It was a great experience. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
He won’t have the gasp reflex until he comes to the surface. Once his head is above the surface its important to keep it that way.
I had a waterbirth for my second child. She had her cord wrapped around her neck twice. It wasn’t that big a deal. The midwife checked for the cord and told me not to push for the next contraction. I didn’t push but the baby flew out anyway. The midwife unwrapped her from the cord and handed her to me. I held her close to my chest until the placenta was ready to be born. We cut the cord after the placenta was out. (about 11 minutes after the birth)