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Clamping the cord

katep082012katep082012 member
in Natural Birth

We are planning to delay cord cutting, and I am wondering if anyone has an idea of about how long it takes for the cord to stop pulsating after the baby is delivered?    

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Re: Clamping the cord

  • LadyMadrid08LadyMadrid08 member

    We delayed cord clamping with DD and I think it took just a few minutes for it to stop pulsating.  However, I didn't realize that one "risk" of delaying cord clamping is higher bilirubin levels--jaundice.  Also, my DH has Gilbert's Syndrome (a bilirubin thing) and we didn't connect these two things.  DD ended up very jaundiced and had to stay 3 days in the neo-natal care unit after I was discharged. We won't be delaying cord clamping again for these reasons.  

    Just sharing our experience--obviously not everyone's child will be genetically predisposed to get jaundice and of course it is a common thing in newborns, but those two facts I mentioned make me not want to do it again.  Going home without DD (they had no where for me to sleep/stay near her) was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do!

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  • amandaleigh1amandaleigh1 member
    I specified in my birth plan a time frame of 3 minutes or when it stops pulsating, whichever comes first. My ob seems to think that you get max benefit by the time 3 minutes has elapsed, so I went with her recommendation.

    IVF #1 ET 1 d3 embryo 10/30/11 BFP
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  • dosafyredosafyre
    We just asked them to delay for a couple minutes to help with jaundice...not until it stopped pulsing (because of the jaundice risk to waiting longer). They were happy to oblige and DD#2 had no real jaundice this time (but she was also better at latching correclty, so was getting more fluid probably than DD#1 as well).
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  • anonsouthernbellanonsouthernbell member
    We waited about five min w my son ( completely stopped pulsing) and w dd it was about 45 min before it was cut.  Neither one had problems w jaundice...in fact dd was super rosy.
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  • kali55kali55 member
    It was under 5 minutes with DS.  If you can, you should feel the cord...  It's your baby's heartbeat!  Very cool!


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  • bornmommybornmommy member
    We delayed cord clamping but it only took about a minute.  I've heard it can take up to 20 though!
                  
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                                                                DS #1 born 05/25/2012   
                                                         BFP#2:  06/12/2013 ---- loss     
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          BPF#4: 2/1/2016 --- 2/23/2016 suspected molar pregnancy--- 3/15/2016 D&E - diagnosis MM
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  • jennyann28jennyann28 member
    imageLadyMadrid08:

    We delayed cord clamping with DD and I think it took just a few minutes for it to stop pulsating.  However, I didn't realize that one "risk" of delaying cord clamping is higher bilirubin levels--jaundice.  Also, my DH has Gilbert's Syndrome (a bilirubin thing) and we didn't connect these two things.  DD ended up very jaundiced and had to stay 3 days in the neo-natal care unit after I was discharged. We won't be delaying cord clamping again for these reasons.  

    Just sharing our experience--obviously not everyone's child will be genetically predisposed to get jaundice and of course it is a common thing in newborns, but those two facts I mentioned make me not want to do it again.  Going home without DD (they had no where for me to sleep/stay near her) was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do!

    We had a pretty similar experience. I didn't know that there was an increased risk of jaundice with delayed cord clamping, nor did I know that DH had Gilbert's (he knew, he'd just never told me)! DD was discharged with elevated bilirubin levels, but still within the "normal" range. By our 3 day postpartum check up, she had full-blown jaundice and had to be admitted for 3 days. Foturnately, her room had beds for both DH and I, so we were able to stay with her & I was able to EBF. If DH didn't have Gilbert's & DD's jaundice not been so severe, I'd probably still delay cord clamping for subsequent babies.
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