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wait to cut the umbilical cord?
Hello everyone,
I don't post on here very often, but I have a question that is perplexing me.
I'm finalizing my birth plan, since I'm due any day now. I was wondering if anyone knows what the pros and cons are of having the doctor wait a short time before cutting the umbilical cord (until it stops pulsing) and if anyone has actually done this before when they gave birth.
I'm considering adding this to my birth plan, and if anyone could share their experiences with me, it would be so great 
Thank you!!
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Re: wait to cut the umbilical cord?
There are a ton of stem cells in the cord, and if they just cut it immediately, and you're not planning on banking them, those cells will just go to waste.
So the theory is that it's much better to let the baby have them, since they were meant for him/her anyway, then to let the doctor trash the cord so quickly.
"I'll gladly take cold sores over eye herpes" -ElieFin
"Unicorn glitter gives me UTIs." -Leila'sMommy
I did it! I dont think there is a con (though for some reason I think I remember reading that if you are donating/banking cord blood you cant do this)
Waiting to cut the cord allows all the rest of the iron and other "goodies" in the blood to transfer to the baby. I loved it. They put him on my belly and I just stared at him, taking him in while they did NOTHING. It was our time. Once it stopped pulsing they cut it and cleaned him up. I'm 100% doing it again!
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.
How long does it take to stop pulsing?
"I'll gladly take cold sores over eye herpes" -ElieFin
"Unicorn glitter gives me UTIs." -Leila'sMommy
Did an OB in a hospital agree to it? I talked to 2 OBs so far and neither of them were familiar w/ the idea at all and actually thought it would be a bad idea.... I'm going to print some info on it to take to my next appt.
On that note, if anyone has any links handy, I (we, I'm sure) would appreciate it.
It only took 3-4 minutes I think, wasn't long at all, but was still a special time for us.
I think it helps that I use a MW, she was completely open to it. I have an appt today, if I remember I'll ask her if she knows of any medical sites/research about it that I could link you to for your OB's. I think it is something great for your baby, I dont know why they wouldn't do it other than they are in a hurry.
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.
Im still on the fence about this. I would rather bank his cord blood but time and finances are pending here. After talking to a naturopath, my midwife, an ob and my lamaze teacher, I have been told and read time and time again that the baby generally doesn't have a strong enough liver to process all the extra blood and iron and such and it often leads to high levels of jaundice, polycythemia and an over abundance of iron in the body.
Once it was explained to me this way it made a lot of sense. Hospitals in Canada were doing it a lot more often about a decade ago and simultaniously saw a huge influx in babies with jaundice and other blood related issues. All of these issues do regulate themselves but the interem can be quite scary. So in the end Canadian hospitals stopped the process. I don't know if this outweighs the pro's but it's better then a "we just don't do that" explanation.
Just something to think about. I still don't know how I feel either way and in the end I will most likely choose to delay clamping but it was an interesting way of looking at the cons. It's not always about rushing and cleaning and drs not caring.
An awesome and reliable website with both sides of the information is here...there is a lot of misinformation an opinion based info out there and when it comes to this type of stuff we need reliable sources not just googled websites like yahoo answers and bellybelly.com
https://www.pregnancy.org/article/delayed-or-immediate-clamping-of-cord
I read part of a book called "Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering" by Sarah Buckley. She actually would sew a drawstring "placenta bag" and keep her baby attached to the placenta until the cord dried up and broke off the baby naturally. When she carried the baby around, she carried the placenta bag, too.
That is not for me. But there is one perspective! She wanted her baby to suck all the nutrients/blood/iron from the placenta.
As far as jaundice, I want to learn more about that before I make a decision of when to cut the cord.
I had this as part of my birth plan, but the nurse teaching my birthing class said they generally don't want to do it for two reasons. One, as a PP mentioned, it can cause jaundice because you're possibly giving the baby an excess of red blood cells, which are broken down faster and cause higher bilirubin levels. Two, she said the cord dries up so fast when it hits air that you're usually not jumping the gun much by clamping right away.
However, those statements seem contradictory to me, and once again I find myself thinking "how did anyone ever deliver a healthy baby before modern American medicine?"
This is called louts birth, and is quite cool!
My doctor will wait a little while, but not necessarily until the cord stops pulsing completely. We talked about it yesterday while reviewing my birth plan, and I'm ok with it. She's very into active management of the third stage (which I personally think it a little overly aggressive for most women, but I get her risk-aversion and she was VERY open on everything else, so I'm leaving well enough alone.)
The do need to cut the cord to move on with the rest (delivering the placenta, etc) so many docs won't want to wait too too long, but as PPs said, waiting does allow them to get those red blood cells and stem cells that would just be going to waste.
Definitely WAIT to cut the cord! Don't forget baby is trying out his lungs on oxygenated air for the very first time! He still needs to gurgle out moisture so the oxygen he breathes in can get absorbed into his blood stream. If you hack off the cord, you cut off his only reliable source of oxygen, depriving his little brain of that all important gas!
There needs to be a "transition time", where the cord shrinks and the lungs work up to 100% efficiency. This transition time is where the cord passes the job of oxygenating the baby to the lungs.
Plus, there is all that good stuff - iron and nutrients and stem cells that should be returned to his body
Give it 5 minutes - there is no rush.
Delayed cord clamping allows more blood to flow into the baby's body. The extra blood flow is particularly helpful for the baby's newly functioning lungs. Also, it has been shown to reduce the incidence of jaundice (not increase it) because there is a larger blood volume circulating which means the excessive billirubin can be "picked up" and disposed of faster, without overloading the newborn's liver.
Unless there is a crisis that involves a high degree of intervention for your baby immediately after delivery there should be no problems with delaying cord clamping.
Put your DH/SO in charge of watching post delivery and let the nurse attending your delivery know it is important to you to wait (the nurse can often help 'remind' the Dr). If the Dr goes to clamp the cord without waiting (Dr's are busy and notoriously forgetful) all you or your husband have to do is say "Wait, we don't want the cord clamped until it stops pulsing."
this is my first pregnacy and i think that you should wait till the cord stops pulsing and cord the blood. But you also have tho think your baby's got to have to have food and if you are wanting to breastfeed then you might want to cut quick then.
The reason you want to wait to clamp and also cut the cord is that the mother's blood flow to the baby often is cut off for the time that the baby is in the birth canal. So, when the baby is born there is a back-log of blood cells waitng to go into the baby. If you clamp the cord immediately, as many OB's do for their own convenience, the baby is missing some of the blood volume that is naturally intended for him. There have been many studies done on cord clamp delay. The pro is a more robust healthy baby with higher iron levels (low iron is often a problem in babies, especially preemies). The con is the baby could be more prone to jaundice. The pros last for months with babies who received that extra cord blood showing higher iron levels for up to 6-8 months after birth. Jaundice can usually be treated with a little sunlight. I waited to clamp my baby's cord and I am glad I did. She is super healthy and did not have jaundice. It took about 15-30 seconds for the cord to stop pulsing and get the blood to the baby, but I had a very short delivery. Some may take longer, up to two-five minutes was average wait time in the studies.
First of all, Sterneli does summarize things very nicely and her response that in can cause jaundice is true. However, jaundice is not necessarily a minor problem that can be treated with "only sunlight". Jaundice is not something that should be taken lightly. Jaundice can lead to kernicterus which is bilirubin deposits in the brain which in term leads to retardation and cerebral palsy. Severe jaundice needs to be treated with special lights for long periods of time. Also, delayed cord clamping can lead to too high levels of red blood cells or what is called polycythemia. Polycythemia can then lead to breathing difficulties, low blood sugars and low blood calcium levels requiring a newborn to be admitted to an Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and have the blood "diluted" for lack of a better term. The problem is at the time of delivery, one does not know which child will benefit from the delayed cord clamping and which will be harmed by it.
Also, it can delay resuscitation efforts in infants that need special attention after birth. There are actual good studies that very premature males and infants with heart defects will benefit from delayed cord clamping. I hope this adds to the discussion.
"When a human baby is born it needs to begin breathing air into its lungs in order to survive. However, it would be a mistake to imagine that a baby?s first breath contains their body?s first experience of life-giving oxygen. Oxygen is provided for the fetus throughout the entire pregnancy by the mother, through the placenta. Following birth the placenta continues to provide oxygen for approximately 5 minutes while blood pumps, to and fro, through the umbilical cord. This is part of an ingenious plan of God?s (or nature?s) to allow the newborn time to ?unfold? his/her lungs and to gently make the switch from living underwater to breathing air through the lungs. Remember, the infant is not receiving ?placental? blood or even the mother?s blood through the umbilical cord. The baby is retrieving its own blood supply from one of its own functioning organs that just happens to be inside its mother?s body."
"newborn anemia, respiratory distress leading to brain damage and/or death (rare, yes, but it happens), inadequate blood supply resulting in a need for transfusion, possible heart defects resulting from problems closing off the hole in the heart valves following birth. There are a few doctors now theorizing that the rise in autism is due to brain damage caused by early cord clamping."
you can still donate cord blood.
You may be told that delayed clamping causes jaundice in babies by your carer or hospital. This is not true.
Babies are no more likely to become jaundiced by delaying cord clamping and there is no relation to jaundice and the time of the cord being clamped. In the studies, the bilirubin levels were within normal range no matter when the cord was clamped. (Excess bilirubin levels are what is associated with jaundice).
( https://www.bellybelly.com.au/articles/birth/cord-clamping-delaying-cord-clamping )
BAHAHAHA not true.
some women don't clamp the cord AT ALL and wait for it to fall off naturally.
ugh. sounds to me like your ob just wants it his way.
annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd
"Jaundice is almost certain when a baby gets his or her full quota of blood, and is caused by the breakdown of the normal excess of blood to produce bilirubin, the pigment that causes the yellow appearance of a jaundiced baby. There is, however, no evidence of adverse effects from this. (Morley 1998). One author has proposed that jaundice, which is present in almost all human infants to some extent, and which is often prolonged by breastfeeding, may actually be beneficial because of the anti-oxidant properties of bilirubin. (Gartner 1998)?"
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/articles/birth/cord-clamping-delaying-cord-clamping
ya women deliver their placenta with the cord attached all the time...
i don't understand what the problem is either....
so how come for hundreds of thousands of years. healthy babies were delived and the cords not clamped. it was not until about the 1930's (when ob's took over the birth field) that anyone CONSIDERED clamping the cord.
and MOST of the time jaundice is NOT a big problem. its the norm more than anything.
I have been researching delaying cord clamping and have found several research articles concluding that the benefits outweigh the risks for delaying cord clamping. A literature review about delayed cord clamping claims "based on a summation of all findings the author cloncludes and advocates that slightly delayed cord clamping between 30 seconds and five minutes after birth is superior to immediate cord clamping done at delivery." This is from Delayed cord clamping or immediate cord clamping?: A literature review by Elizabeth L Cook. Also this literature review states "the results of many reports do not support the position that immediate clamping prevents and excessive infusion of red blood cells or are inconclusive at best (Bennett and Brown, 1999). In Emhamed and Colleagues' (2004) study, serum bilirubin was evaluated 24 hours after delivery of those clamped within 10 seconds of birth (n=46) and of those clamped after cessation of umbilical pulsations (n=58). Discrepancies between the groups were statistically insignificant meaning jaundice was not a great risk to babies with slightly delayed clamping."
I thought this information might be helpful.
You posted so much relevant and helpful information but this statement really weakens your point. For hundrends of thousands of years many babies were born unhealthy and died. This still happens in many under developed parts of the world. I have worked in many hospitals throughout India and sub-saharan Africa. I agree that some elements of birth can remain "natural" but don't take for granted the years and years of advanced medical research and technology that allows for safe deliveries today.
That is just DISGUSTING!
Sounds like a spectacular way to give your baby a septic infection.
That is an interesting story, but I'd have to wonder at the truth behind it. Simply because once the placenta is delivered from the mother, it's no longer providing oxygen to the baby. The placenta passes oxygen from the mother through the umbilical cord and to the baby. Google it. There is actually a procedure called "EXIT" where they've delivered just the head, shoulders, and one hand of a baby to remove a large tumor which was blocking it's airway. They only delivered part of the baby because once the placenta is out of the mother, it's no longer receiving oxygen from the placenta. So I'd say the story is untrue.