The umbilical cord and placenta function together to circulate blood between a mother and baby. The placenta acts as a filtration and nutrient exchange system.
Blood from the mother flows into the placenta and deposits nutrients and oxygen. Blood from the baby circulates into the placenta and collects the oxygen and nutrients from the mother and sends them to the baby. The placenta carries out several critical functions in this process including. The placenta is also involved in the production of certain pregnancy hormones and in protecting the baby from infection. The placenta grows ahead of the fetus and continues growing throughout pregnancy.
By the time the baby is born the average placenta weighs in at about pounds. In a normal delivery, the placenta comes out shortly after the baby. Placental insufficiency is triggered by lower than normal maternal blood flow. To carry out its functions properly, blood from the mother must circulate into the placenta at normal levels.
Insufficiency results when incoming maternal blood flow levels decrease. This decrease in maternal blood flow can be caused by several medical conditions or events. Placental insufficiency may also be caused by mechanical complications such as if the placenta is not properly attached to the uterus or if it suddenly detaches placental abruption. The thick membrane, replete with blood vessels that help deliver nutrients and oxygen to your baby and take away waste products to keep your baby healthy, has been lauded for all the amazing things you can do with it after giving birth.
There's a practice known as placentophagy, which despite lacking scientific support, involves consuming the placenta for all its wonderful nutrients. You can turn it into a body salve to treat C-section scars and perineal tears. But for health care providers, the placenta's usefulness begins during pregnancy and extends to postnatal care, because it is basically a window into the health of parent and baby. In a new social media post, a midwife asked followers to check out photos of four placentas and guess which was the unhealthy one.
Fair warning, if you're squeamish: The photos are graphic. Here, experts weigh in on there merit of analyzing the placenta in this way—and what a placenta's appearance actually says about a parent or baby's health. A certified nurse midwife CNM named Angelina Ruffin-Alexander recently shared a photo collage of four placentas alongside a powerful PSA: "We as midwives always analyze the placenta after a birth," Ruffin-Alexander wrote.
The midwife concluded, "This can be one of the reasons good prenatal care is recommended. Ross says. She points out that certain circumstances or conditions can make the placenta less healthy, strong, and effective for a growing baby, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, anemia, twin pregnancy, tobacco, alcohol and drug use, and a blood-clotting disorder. And in a study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology , researchers concluded that pregnancies complicated by HG in the second trimester of pregnancy are at a much higher risk of associated placental dysfunction disorders.
Error: This is required. Error: Not a valid value. Sometimes the placenta does not work properly. This will mean the baby does not get the oxygen and nutrients they need.
If you have placental insufficiency, your baby may not grow well or may develop complications during labour. The condition can lead to problems both for mother and baby.
It's linked to pre-eclampsia and placental abruption , when the placenta peels away from the wall of the uterus. It can also prevent the baby from growing at a normal rate in the womb, known as intrauterine growth restriction IUGR. There can be serious complications for the baby, including lack of oxygen during the birth, premature labour , low blood sugar, too little calcium in the blood, or too many red blood cells and sometimes even stillbirth.
Sometimes the placenta may not grow to be big enough — for example, if you are carrying twins or more. Your lifestyle can also damage the placenta. Medical conditions such as diabetes , pre-eclampsia and blood clotting conditions also increase your risk.
Placental insufficiency has no symptoms. Getting prenatal care early in pregnancy will help make sure that the mother is as healthy as possible during the pregnancy.
Smoking, alcohol, and other recreational drugs can interfere with the baby's growth. Avoiding these substances may help prevent placental insufficiency and other pregnancy complications.
Collagen vascular diseases in pregnancy. Gabbe's Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Intrauterine growth restriction: screening, diagnosis, and management.
J Obstet Gynaecol Can. PMID: pubmed. Rampersad R, Macones GA. Late- and postterm pregnancy. Resnik R.
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