Cord Blood Stem Cells Information

Cutting of the Umbilical Cord?

(Cutting of the Umbilical Cord) Does anyone really know, how did they know to cut it back in the old days? and what did they use to cut it with or did it just fall off? I'm talking way before scissors!!! How did they know to cut it?

Public Comments

1. It didn't just fall off!!!!!!!!!!!! They used scissors and chances of getting infected was high!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
2. Eww....my mom constantly wonders this. She thinks they must have bit it off back in the cavemen days. I don't know this for a fact. I always wonder when cave women did when they got their periods?!?!?!
3. Chances are in the beginning of time, they may have tried to cut it with stones or just let it fall off naturally. If the cord is left attached to baby and still attached to placenta, it normally takes 3-10 days for the cord to naturally fall off of the baby. Some people perform lotus births nowadays, which is not cutting the cord and leaving it attached to placenta and let it fall off naturally.
4. I would guess that they chewed it off. The act of giving bitrh was so mysterious that many cult and witchcraft practices were involved in it. Some cultures today still want to keep the placenta and bury it under a tree or rose bush when they take the baby home from the hospital.