Жаңа туған баладағы қапшық немесе жарқын қабықша

Membrane covering the head and face of a newborn at birth

A caul or cowl (Caput galeatum, literally, "helmeted head") is a piece of membrane that can cover a newborn's head and face. Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in less than 1 in 80,000 births. The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, physician, or midwife upon birth of the child. An en caul birth is different from a caul birth in that the infant is born inside the entire amniotic sac (instead of just a portion of it). The sac balloons out at birth, with the amniotic fluid and child remaining inside the unbroken or partially broken membrane.

A child 'born with the caul' has a portion of a birth membrane remaining on the head. There are two types of caul membranes, and such cauls can appear in four ways. The most common caul type is a piece of the thin translucent inner lining of the amnion that breaks away and forms tightly against the head during birth. Such a caul typically clings to the head and face but on rarer occasions drapes over the head and partly down the torso.

The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, physician, or midwife upon birth of the child. If the membrane is of the amniotic tissue, it is removed by easily slipping it away from the child's skin. The removal of the thicker membrane is more complex. If done correctly, the attending practitioner will make a small incision in the membrane across the nostrils so that the child can breathe. The loops are then carefully removed from behind the ears. The remainder of the caul is then either peeled back very carefully from the skin or else gently rubbed with a sheet of paper, which is then peeled away. If removed too quickly, the caul can leave wounds on the infant's flesh at the attachment points, which might leave permanent scars. Most en caul births are premature.

In the classic 1850 novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, the title character and novel narrator describes his own birth: "I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas." Copperfield goes on to describe the fate of his caul, which was re sold and raffled over the subsequent decade as a talisman believed to protect its owner from death by drowning. In the novel Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, Theophilus Hopkins, father of the hero, Oscar, gives to his son a little box, inside which there is "a caul, the little membrane that had covered Oscar’s head at birth and it had been kept, his mother had kept it, because it was said – superstitiously, of course – that such a thing would protect the child from drowning". An en caul birth is depicted in the episode "Heavy Hangs the Head" (S03E01) of the Apple TV+ science fiction series See. In The Shining, Danny Torrance is born with a caul, possibly causing his clairvoyant abilities. In Barbara Kingsolver's novel Demon Copperhead (2022), the protagonist is born with a caul, with the superstition that he could not die by drowning. In the FX series The Strain, Zach is born in a caul in S3 Episode 3 "First Born". In J. D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist is significantly named Holden Caulfield.