BBC News; Delayed cord clamping better for babies.

[GreenMonkies]

here

"Waiting a few minutes after delivery to cut the umbilical cord is best for a newborn's health, research suggests.

Delaying cord clamping reduces the risk that the baby will have iron deficiency anaemia without substantial side effects, the authors told the BMJ.

The World Health Organization dropped early clamping from its guidelines some years ago.

But there are no formal guidelines for NHS staff about when the cord should be cut.

An audit a few years ago found many UK hospitals advocate early clamping, as soon as the baby is delivered.

Mounting evidence suggests this may not be best practice and could be causing health problems."

Delayed cord clamping is also linked with difficult placenta delivery (leading to the need for synto injections and cord traction) and respiratory distress in neonates.

Glad to see the UK finally, officially, catching up with this.

I'm a bit confused by the last paragraph, though, re. "difficult placenta delivery". I had a look at the link and couldn't see any reference to it there - can you give any hint as to where this information has come from?

It seems the dangers of early cord clamping are becoming more and more apparent. I really hope that the more widely known this becomes, the more acceptable it will become for health professionals to leave the cord alone. There also needs to be some way of assisting/resusitating premature or compromised babies while still attached to the cord. All babies would benefit, but these vunerable babies have the most to lose by being whisked away so quickly. Here's a link for anyone interested. (hope it works).

tried to link but cant work this laptop - but for a really good insight into this issue please read the midwifethinking.com site page called The Placenta: essential resuscitation equipment
it seems like common sense that the cord should not be clamped early, yet another thing done for the convenience of drs and mws and not for the baby

I would like to see some more of these in hospitals.

www.lwh.me.uk/News_Centre/news/Liverpool_Womens_Medical_Experts_Win_Award.aspx

oops try again

www.lwh.me.uk/News_Centre/news/Liverpool_Womens_Medical_Experts_Win_Award.aspx

Hmmm...this just made me feel sick, I thought I was being clever asking for my DD's cord clamping to be delayed. She got jaundice in the first 24 hours, and ended up on the Neonatal unit etc. Apparently, the delayed cord clamping may have been a contributing factor, so not always such a good idea.

Well we caught onto it in our hospital four or five years ago. Old news as far as I know. Really old news, I've seen it in the daily mail years ago never mind in the journals.

Yeah, it is old news. But change can take a long time to actually change practice. Old habits die hard and all that. I find that midwives are pretty good at it but the medical staff are a different story.

The delayed cord clamping/jaundice link is a tricky one. As I understand it, there was a study that found a connection - but an awful lot more research that has failed to do so. Certainly the study that the BBC based their article upon did consider this issue specifically and found no increase of risk regardless of the timing of clamping. Either way recall, I'm sorry you had a scary time and hope your DD has had no lasting problems.

I find early cord clamping a really bizarre phenomenon - its seems to be pretty well agreed that it was an intervention that was introduced on the back of no supporting data whatsoever and has become such a "norm" that many HCP's around the world are very cautious of moving away from it. Even though there is no proven benefit to standardised early cord clamping and a growing weight of evidence to support a delay (or just not interfering for no reason).

I'm really glad to hear that some hospitals do now practice a more physiological 3rd stage as standard, and that more MWs are aware of the practice. I'm just still for the logic that the more times the concept makes the news the more people will be aware, the more questions mothers will ask, and the more standard it will become. Not all MWs and Units are as enlightened as VivaLeBeaver and her colleagues - even though the data has been out there for years. There are some horrific stories on here from ladies who's MWs completely failed to understand the basic principles of a physiological 3rd stage and refused to let them hold the baby until the placenta was out (even though holding the baby and letting them suckle is fundamental to getting natural oxytocin flowing to stimulate the contractions that will bring it out) or applying cord traction when the placenta hadn't detached :(.

When I asked my midwife to delay clamping the cord last year she wasn't interested at all, just said 'no we don't really do that here'.

I had a similar experience to EMS23, I asked the mw to wait a few minutes before dh cutting the cord but it was too late, she'd done it already!

1st time, in mlu unit I wanted delayed cord clamp and physiological 3rd stage but mw yanked loads on the cord and after 25 mins insisted on injecting me. The cord clamping was about 2 seconds after baby came out but she said cord had stopped pulsating. I don't believe her.

2nd time I ensured no interference by insisting cord stay attached until after delivery of placenta and refused to get out of the pool or hand over baby (who I brought up myself) until then.

Fantastic birth although midwife was nervous of birthplan. To her credit she stuck with it and said it was her best birth to date.