HW # 45 - Reply to Other Peoples' Comments

Response to Andy - I appreciate the fact that you described my project's recommendation of a birth practice change as an "easy" one because it does
seem easy to do and important to do and yet it still isn't done. It seems that once there is a set medical practice in our culture it is hard to undo it and go back to a
natural way even if it is obviously better. You asked about whether it wouldn't be
better to leave the cord attached until the placenta came out. I think the answer is yes but sometimes it can take time and since in a hospital time is money and the nutrients and other good things from the blood coming throught the cord can get to the baby in 1-3 minutes, at least doing this small thing should be done regularly. I think there are some risks with a placenta tearing and causing hemoraging but I'm not sure whether cutting the cord helps the placenta come out faster. I will find out. And I will scan my flyer (adding the sources I cited earlier) as a pdf so it can be downloaded -didn't know that my previous format was so "ugly".



Response to Abdul - I really appreciate the time you took to react to my project recommendattion of waiting to cut the umbilical cord and that it had the desired impact of making you think that the natural approach is obviously superior to the medical one. You are right that finding out more statistics about what is the practice nationally would have been good. I know that I read that cutting the cord right away is the normal practice in hospitals in this country now for all the reasons stated, but my point would have been stronger with more documentation. Also, the reason I only showed the flyer to two people was because of time and the fact that I wanted to find someone who had just had a baby (to help prove the point that the cord is cut right away without options given) and someone who was about to have one so that she could ask her doctor to cut the cord later. I had a hard time even finding these two people in time.



Response to Natalie - I was really pleased that you said that when you have a baby one day you think you will ask to wait to have the umbilical cord cut. The great thing would be if you did not have to ask because the practice would have changed by then. Judging by how hard it is to get a good health care plan in this country that probably won't happen. I will make a pdf of the flyer to uphold with the picture of the placenta before and after waiting for the cord to be cut.