Penny Simkin on Delayed Cord Clamping

Penny Simkin demonstrates why the baby's umbilical cord should not be routinely clamped and cut immediately following birth

• Category

  Education

[crunchymommy1973]

Great video, and I'm going to share this! One question for Penny - What about doctors who insist that the baby must be held at or below the level of the placenta while the cord remains intact, rather than placing the baby on mother's chest?

[PSfromPenny]

Many doctors still think that if the baby is on the mother’s abdomen, blood shifts from the baby back into the placenta. They are mistaken. Long ago, Yao and Lind (Lancet, Sept. 6, 1969), found no differences in the amount of blood in the placenta in the first 3 minutes when the baby was held 40, 20, or 10 cm. below the mother’s vaginal opening or at 0 or 10 cm above it, which is the level of the mother’s belly or chest if she’s lying down.

[Eknight1985]

Thank you! This is the best explanation I've found and I have showed this to a few people now. My baby didn't have his cord cut until it stopped pulsing and I believe it really helped him. He had no jaundice and although he had some problems when he was born, I believe things would have been much much worse had we robbed him of that extra blood volume

[gena kirby]

Also see science of mom .com why-consider-delayed-cord-clam­ping

[gena kirby]

Francis you seem genuinely curious here is something that may help you:Research has found that delayed cord clamping allows 20 to 40 mL more blood to pulse from the placenta to the newborn, carrying with it an additional 30 to 35 mg of iron [2]. As a result, babies have higher newborn hemoglobin, lower risk of anemia at birth and through 2-3 months, and higher iron status and storage through 6 months of age [2, 3].

Delayed cord clamping gives your baby more iron.

[Danielle Rich]

I did delayed cord clamping during my c section amazing experience

[anca28maria]

Hello, what do you mean by "high" levels? I'm 3 months pregnant and I'm AB-, while the dad is A+... thanks for your time :)

[Lisa Hayes]

All hospitals should have one of the New LifeStart Neonatal Resuscitation Unit from Inditherm, in the delivery room!

[germapinos]

No, you cannot do both. But it is better to give your baby a better chance in the beginning of life than to save it "just in case". Of couse, if you have another child that is in need of a stem cell transplant, then by all means, bank it. But when my son had leukemia, we were told that even if we had saved his cord blood at birth we couldn't use it for him because he'd still be getting mutated genes.

[minikaur]

How does this affect if I'd like to have my baby's blood banked? Can I still have a delayed cord clamping and also have the blood banked?

[LeighIveta]

Thank you for taking your time to share this information. My baby had the cord clamped right after birth, I wish I knew better back then but I will be better prepared next time. They apparently had to clamp it right away as I was loosing too much blood ... not sure :)