Umbilical Cord Knots

As a placenta encapsulator I get to see lots of unique placentas and umbilical cords from women around Adelaide. One feature that often pops up is false knots in the umbilical cord.  
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What is a false knot in an umbilical cord?
A false knot (or pseudoknot) is a very common variation in umbilical cords caused by extra looping of the blood vessels inside the whartons jelly.  False knots do not have any clinical significance and can range from very small to several centimetres. The video below shows one example of a larger false knot.  Drying out the cord enables you to see the blood vessels inside the whartons jelly quite well.

What's the difference between a true knot and a false knot?

• True knots are when the umbilical cord loops upon itself (from baby's activity inside the womb) and can be physically untied.  False knots occur within the cord and can not be untied while the cord is intact.  
• True knots occur only around 0.5 - 1% of births whereas false knots occur in a lot of births.
• False knots do not have any clinical significance and don't present any danger to mum or baby.  A true knot may be clinically significant especially if they are very tight as they can restrict blood flow to the baby, often baby is fine however.

False knots in umbilical cord (C) Elemental Beginnings

True knot in umbilical cord (C) Elemental Beginnings

What was your experience?
Did you have a false knot or a true knot in your cord?  Share your experience below
You can learn more about the medical side of cord knots here on Medscape

Author

Kelly Harper has been providing professional placenta encapsulation services for families around Adelaide and South Australia since 2012.  As the Founder of Placenta Services Australia she has a strong interest in placenta encapsulation safety and research.