The idea of cord around your baby’s neck is naturally quite frightening and many parents get stressed about this. It is natural to fear that the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck might strangle it, but it is generally not so. The umbilical cord is also the life support for the baby. Here are some surprising facts that might help you to relax.
Some Unknown Facts about the Umbilical Cord Around the Baby’s Neck
The cord around the baby’s neck is known as the nuchal cord. There are certain things that you might want to know about this situation.
- It is quite common to have the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck. A study shows that almost up to one third of the babies born have cords around their neck. However it is not a very complicated situation and the doctors know very well how to deal with it.
- It is generally found that mothers worry about the pressure that the cord puts on neck of the baby. However, human bodies generally have their own self defense techniques. In this case, it is generally seen that a healthy umbilical cord has a coating of a sort of gelatin type liquid to protect the blood vessels in the cord. This substance is called Wharton’s jelly. It makes the cord slippery and therefore not too much pressure is put on the baby’s neck.
- There is a fear that as labor progresses the umbilical cord becomes tighter around the neck of the baby. This however is not proven medically. Often women complaint of falling heart rate of fetus but that has nothing to do with the cord.
- It is often believed that the cord affects the growth of the fetus adversely. But many studies suggest that if there is an adverse affect, it is unlikely that the cord around the baby’s neck has caused it.
- You may be surprised to know that there are cases of a tight nuchal cord, but it does not harm your baby the way you feared it did. Sometimes the cord is wrapped around its neck twice, yet, it does not strangle your baby.
- Many people have a notion that the cord around the baby’s neck will lead to a caesarean section but this is not true. As per research and studies it has been found that nuchal cord around the neck does not indicate a caesarean section.
- Often, there can be multiple loops of the cord around the baby’s neck. Do not worry; this is not an abnormal situation. In fact, 2 loops are not too uncommon and the number of loops could vary from 1 to 4.
- What is more distressing for the fetus is the synthetic oxitocin induced labor, than the loops around its neck.
Reading this will probably clear out the doubts you had about the umbilical cord around the baby’s neck. In short, it is not as scary as you might think it is.
