September 2016 Moms
jennlynn777
member
Options
Delayed Cord Clamping
jennlynn777
member
Hey ladies. I'm not sure if this has been discussed or not but I found it pretty interesting. So I thought I would share. Has anybody ever done this?? I have not but my husband and I are considering it.
Here is a link that explains it and a video as well! :-)
https://thestir.cafemom.com/pregnancy/125775/delaying_cord_clamping_explained_video
Here is a link that explains it and a video as well! :-)
https://thestir.cafemom.com/pregnancy/125775/delaying_cord_clamping_explained_video
Re: Delayed Cord Clamping
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/05/26/409697568/delayed-umbilical-cord-clamping-may-benefit-children-years-later
As far as I've seen there have been plenty of studies that show that delayed cord clamping can be potentially beneficial, though maybe not exactly necessary. Perhaps not enough studies to lead to a full scale turn around of the entire medical practice regarding it, but enough that women who would like to participate have enough reason to AND women who don't wish to participate also have plenty of reason.
I'm also curious about jaundice concerns. I'm a FTM so I've never had to deal with a jaundiced baby, though one of my siblings (or myself) had it, I remember my mom mentioning it, and there hadn't been much concern regarding it at the time. Since I've never had the experience, I don't know what those concerns are, so my opinions are coming from a place of statistics. According to The March of Dimes 3 out of 5 babies have some form of jaundice at birth and the risks related to it are very minimal except in rare cases, especially when you have availability to blue light therapy, which I'm pretty sure every hospital has.
The only academic/medical studies I've been able to find say that the increased risk of jaundice is just inside 2%.
Also the most recent 2015-2016 medical journal articles I've come across via searching jaundice and DCC together are either entirely neutral about cord clamping (they can't find reason for or against) or they've discovered benefits. Here are a few:
Articles:
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/137/3/e20153236.abstract
https://journals.lww.com/advancesinneonatalcare/Abstract/2016/02000/Delayed_Umbilical_Cord_Clamping_in_the_21st.13.aspx (Looks like the main concerns here is possible hindrance to immediate resuscitation and the convenience of the practice)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4855192/ (This one is talking about utilizing delayed clamping in a specific medical case, which isn't exactly what we're talking about but I thought I'd include it)
https://www.jcnonweb.com/article.asp?issn=2249-4847;year=2015;volume=4;issue=3;spage=183;epage=187;aulast=Krishnan (Recommendation that DCC should become a standard of care in LOW RISK pregnancies).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/14767058.2015.1105951 (A more neutral study showing that infants without DCC didn't suffer any disadvantages but several of the infants had a better chance of avoiding anemia.)
I am not posting these articles to try to convince anyone specifically, I'm posting them because this is what I'm finding. I would love it if some of you would share your articles about the concerns regarding DCC so that I can be more informed on that perspective as well!
Unless she was nursing, she was under bili lights. The nurses are also the ones that decided when she could nurse (pretty much every 3 hrs). I could only see and hold my daughter for 20-30 minutes every three hours from the time she was a day and a half old until she was three days old. I know that is nothing compared to what some mom's endure, but after having her inside of me for 9 months, it was terrible.
To help her get the bilirubin out of her system, we had to supplement. My hospital had the option to use donor breastmilk or formula. We opted for donor milk that the nurses or DH bottle fed her. I also pumped what little I could get for them to syringe feed her that.
We ended up staying an extra day in the hospital because she had to be on the bili lights, and I think we were on the lucky side. I have a friend whose son stayed on the bili lights for over a week before they sent him home with a bili blanket.
I also believe every mom should make the decision that is best for them, but I want to share my experience with a jaundiced baby for that POV. My concern with DCC (in my particular situation) is making any potential jaundice worse than it already was.
DS had no signs until his 2 day checkup. From there, his levels kept rising. I had to drive my 2 day old newborn to the pediatrician daily and watch him scream in pain as they drew blood from his little feet (after 5 days they were all bruised up). His levels kept rising and rising until he was 1 point from hospitalization. At that point we got a light blanket.
They have to be on that blanket 23 hrs a day. So you nurse, change, sleep with them on the blanket (which is a hard piece of plastic, not a blanket). You also have to be 3 feet from an outlet at all times. DS had to be on it for 7 days.
It was not the way I had envisioned my forst few weeks with my newborn for sure. Also, if jaundice gets bad enough it can cause brain damage. It may not happen often, but when you see your child's levels rise for two weeks straight despite lots of liquid/sun and eventually blankets, you worry anyway. A lot. To me, the delayed clamping is not worth potentially increasing the severity of my LO's jaundice. I am expecting this LO will also have it since my family is prone to it.
https://m.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Obstetric-Practice/Timing-of-Umbilical-Cord-Clamping-After-Birth?IsMobileSet=true
"In five trials, which involved a total of 1,762 infants, a significant increase was noted in the need for phototherapy for jaundice after birth among infants in the late umbilical cord clamping group"
I didn't view your video because I'm at work but at our hospital it's standard practice to delay cord clamping until either pulsation stops or about two minutes (two minutes usually comes first)(baby friendly hospital). In many places the cord will be milked even if you clamp it right away. I haven't done an official review of literature to see how long these articles are stating "delayed clamping" is and whether or not it's really tied in to higher bili levels, but, as long as our delivery goes without incident we'll be delaying clamping. The amount of blood that the baby can get is significant enough for me to want it. More blood = more hemoglobin, platelets, glucose, antibodies, all that good stuff! Also, this isn't to scare anyone but I had a really scary situation at work a few months ago where a 27 week mom spontaneously delivered in the middle of the night here in the ICU. Long story short one of the reasons the baby survived is because it was still receiving oxygen from mom via the cord.
I don't care what anyone says, childbirth is disgusting.
"I don't know if it's prolapsed bowel or vagina or what, all I saw was something that looked like a potato but someone needs to get in here NOW!" And I turned around and ran away into the room. Then they believed me. But I had a weird intuition in the middle of the night and went to check the patient and sure enough there was all sorts of water and stuff in the bed. Oh, and a potato. Which turned out to be an bitty bitty baby that survived
I think I shit my pants btw.
DD2 4.2013 - vbac
DS1 9.2016 - vbac, team green
Baby #4 due 9.2018
We did the delayed clamping, our hospital did the two minutes and then clamped. Our son had such beautiful color and was so lovely from the get go. It was like night and day co pared to my other children. They seemed to be more pale in color and just over all crankier. My other two births were 7.5 and 3.5 hours respectively and neither had jaundice. It worked great for us and the nurses loved that we asked to do it.
We asked our hospital about this because we plan on donating whatever cord blood is left and they said that even if you wait until the cord stops pulsing that you may still have enough left to bank-- otherwise, they take what little is left and you have the option to clear it for them to use in research-- which still benefits kids with cancer. That was good enough reason for us