What is the benefit of not clamping and cutting the umbilical cord until it has stopped pulsating?

Answer 1

The blood from the placenta that is coming though the umbilical cord is BABY'S blood. So if it's allowed to stop pulsating before it is cut, baby will get more of his blood into his body. This reduces the rate of neonatal anemia. (Pretty much cuts the chances of anemia in half!)

Also, babies who are allowed to get more of the blood that has been held in reserve by the placenta are also likely to be less "floppy" than their peers who have their cords cut immediately. (This is due to the "extra" oxygenated blood the babies received due to "delayed" cord clamping.)

It also seems to decrease the chances of jaundice.

Some people also think that these is an immune system benefit to leaving the cord intact longer.

Dr. M. Jeffrey Maisels says "If the cord is not clamped, the placenta gives the infant the equivalent of 20 cc of blood per kilogram of body weight within these first 3 minutes. This placental transfusion in the normal infant is equivalent to the amount of blood given to an infant in profound shock. When cords are not clamped early, the third stage of labor is one-third shorter and the total mean blood loss after delivery is substantially less than when cords are clamped early. This might be because when cords are not clamped, the placenta is allowed to give up its volume of blood. It thereby contracts and separates more easily from the uterine wall."

We asked that the cord clamping/cutting be delayed with all three of our children. I think it did make a big difference as they were all alert, had good tone, had no problems with anemia, were super healthy babies, etc.

Answer 2

When the umbilical cord is still pulsating, that means that blood is still pumping through it. There are actually 3 vessels inside the cord. Two arteries and a vein. These are large vessels that can cause major bleeding. When the cord stops pulsating, that means that the blood has stopped pumping through it (for the most part). They clamp two places and cut between the clamps. This keeps the mother and baby from loosing any blood. Then the placenta is delivered. After a while, the cord on the baby is shortened and a clamp is placed on it closer to the belly and blue colored stuff is placed on it (can't remember the name of it right off hand but it helps the cord stump to dry out).

Answer 3

1) Leaving the cord to pulse does "no harm" and therefore should be encouraged. If you can think about what Nature intended, our ancestors way back before scissors and clamps were invented must have had to wait to deal with the cord/placenta until the placenta was birthed. They probably chewed it, ground it with rocks, or burned it through with hot sticks from the fire. The little teeth on the clamps indicate that traumatizing of the vessels is necessary to quell bleeding. Some midwives say that if you delay cutting the cord until an hour or so after the birth, there will be no bleeding at all from the stump.

2) Scientists are now discovering that umbilical cord blood is full of valuable T-cells which have cancer fighting properties. A whole industry has sprung up to have this precious blood extracted from the placenta, put in a cooler with dry ice, and taken to a special storage facility to be ready in case the child gets cancer at some time in the future. This is human insanity of the first order. That blood is designed by Nature to go into that child's body at birth, not 30 yrs later! We need to acknowledge that there are things about the newborn circulation and blood composition that we just don't know and we need to bet that Mother Nature had things figured out pretty well for us to survive this long. Maybe the supposed need for Vitamin K in the newborn comes out of early cord clamping?

3) Leaving the cord slows down the "fire drill" energy that many birth attendants get into after the baby is born. Leaving off the busyness of midwifery for a half hour allows the mother and baby undisturbed bonding time without a "project " going on i.e. the cord cutting instructions, explanations, jokes, etc. The father, too , is undisturbed and able to enjoy this "high" time without focusing on a job at hand.


4) Educator Joseph Chilton Pearce in his book "Magical Child" makes reference to studies that were done on primates who gave birth in captivity and had early cord clamping. Autopsies of the primates showed that early cord clamping produced unusual lesions in the brains of the animals. These same lesions were also found in the brains of human infants when autopsied.


5) For women with an Rh Negative blood type, there is a growing belief that the clamping of a pulsing cord that causes the blood of the baby to transfuse into the blood stream of the mother causing sensitization problems. Robert S Mendelsohn, M.D., in his book "How to Have a Healthy Child. . . In Spite of Your Doctor" blames the whole Rh neg problem on too quick clamping of the cord. Especially in Rh neg mothers I urge midwives to wait until the placenta is out before thinking about cord clamping

Answer 4

I have never heard that one. My sons cord was wrapped around his neck 6x (long cord) and he was not breathing they did not even clamp...just cut , then clamped on my end, and he nor I had no problems dur to that

Answer 5

That way the baby gets the maximum amount of oxygenated blood from the placenta, and it gives a little more time for the lungs to start working-- helps prevent anemia and hypoxia. Good Luck!!

Answer 6

This way there isn't a gush of blood and the mother doesn't lose excess blood. When it stops pulsating, the placenta has detached from the mother.

Answer 7

Yes, it is rather foremost for the youngster to get the blood from the placenta, notably for lengthy or elaborate labors, or for untimely toddlers. It can support restrict jaundice, too. My toddlers twine used to be round her neck in order that they needed to reduce it, however we had deliberate on delaying the twine chopping for all the advantages.

Answer 8

I've never heard of this. I do know that it is clamped immediately because it not it can cause a deadly infection to both baby and mom (once cut).