Öz
The placenta is a vital link between mother and baby during pregnancy. The placenta is named the tree of life, which has a spiritual side. In lotus birth, the placenta is treated spiritually. Lotus birth is without clamping of the umbilical cord following the birth of the baby and preservation of the placenta by special plants until its fall (3-7 days) spontaneously. According to this philosophy, it is claiming that the placenta is a part of the baby and the separation of the placenta should be left to the natural process. The review aims to examine the benefits and risks of lotus birth in terms of the newborn. In the PubMed and ScienceDirect databases, “lotus birth” “placenta” and “umbilical non-severance” as the keywords have been searched. In this review, only case reports about lotus birth were found. It is mentioned that lotus birth is beneficial in some case reports while other studies state that lotus birth is a potential risk for a newborn. As a result, the lotus birth has many benefits, such as helping maintain skin-to-skin care and facilitating the adaptation of the newborn to extrauterine life. But there is a risk of infection, hyperbilirubinemia, idiopathic hepatitis, neonatal omphalitis, etc. It is suggested that case-control and randomized controlled trials on lotus birth be carried out.