22
Feb
The umbilical cord has blood vessels that carry oxygen and food from the placenta to your baby. Lets look a little closer.
The Benefits of Waiting to Cut the Umbilical Cord After Birth Most parents remember the cutting of the umbilical cord after the birth of their baby.
Why is the umbilical cord clamped. Now heres the real answer. Sometime not terribly long after birth the umbilical cord dries and stops pulsating. After that the placenta has absolutely no function and the cord can be cut without any clamping.
When there is no blood flow through the cord there is no risk of bleeding. Clamping the umbilical cord immediately at birth was something that I was taught to do as a routine part of delivery management. The reason for clamping the cord so quickly I was told was to stop the baby getting unnecessary blood because the extra blood would be all the more for the baby to process and they would be at risk of becoming jaundiced caused by the breakdown of all the fetal blood cells.
Delayed umbilical cord clamping is usually performed 25 seconds to 5 minutes after giving birth. DCC allows more blood to transfer from the placenta to the baby sometimes increasing the childs blood volume by up to a third. The iron in the blood increases the newborns iron storage which is vital for healthy brain development.
They have to tie off or clamp the umbilical cord before cutting it because it is the babys life line and carried blood and oxygen to the baby. If they dont clamp it the baby could potentially. At birth if the umbilical cord is not clamped immediately blood flow between the baby and placenta continues for a short time.
This continued placental transfusion is part of the physiological transition from fetal to neonatal circulation1 Clamping the cord too quickly may restrict the infants ability to cope with this transition2 3 Healthy babies at term usually adapt without major. The umbilical cord can now be safely clamped thereby separating the baby from its placenta. The babys first breaths are crucial to redirect blood-flow to start passing through its lungs triggering a steady transition to autonomous circulation.
Well the biggest reason is I presume because of the big deal that is made over the cutting of the cord in the hospital. It is commonplace for the cord to be clamped and cut immediately following birth. But is this whats best.
Lets look a little closer. What is the umbilical cord. A baby is connected to its mother via the umbilical cord.
In most cases the umbilical cord will be cut following birth. However it does not necessarily have to be cut immediately. According to a review by The Cochrane Library it is possible that keeping your baby connected to their umbilical cord for a period longer than one minute may result in specific health outcomes.
Well the baby will exsanguinate. Unless the blood clots before that happens. Only once in my 2500 births it so happened that the dad cut the cord on the wrong side of the clamp and the umbilical stub immediately started spurting.
One practice you might have heard about is delayed cord clamping. Delayed clamping means the umbilical cord isnt clamped immediately after birth. Instead its clamped and cut between one and.
Umbilical Cord Infection When the fetal membranes become infected that infection can spread to the umbilical cord the placenta the fetus and the amniotic fluid. This is called an intra-amniotic infection or an IAI. An IAI or an infection of the umbilical cord is called funisitis.
What is delayed umbilical cord clamping. After you give birth your baby remains attached to the placenta via the umbilical cordthat rope of veins and arteries thats spent nine months making Amazon delivery look slackerish by providing 247 blood oxygen and nutrients to your little one in utero. The Benefits of Waiting to Cut the Umbilical Cord After Birth Most parents remember the cutting of the umbilical cord after the birth of their baby.
Often the father or partner will take that ceremonial role. In hospitals the cord is very commonly clamped and cut within 30. The umbilical cord connects your baby to the placenta afterbirth in the uterus.
The placenta and umbilical cord form in your uterus along with your baby during pregnancy. The placenta helps your baby breathe and grow before birth. The umbilical cord has blood vessels that carry oxygen and food from the placenta to your baby.
Before the 1950s the umbilical cord usually was cut after it stopped pulsating anywhere from one to five minutes after birth. After studies showed that more than 90 percent of a babys blood volume was achieved within the first few breaths after birth and no studies could determine the optimal time to cut the cord the time between birth and clamping the cord grew shorter and shorter. Cord clamping which varied.
Youve got to remember this was a review of existing publications and concerns were raised about subjective interpretations. Even the cord is not clamped the umbilical circulation ceases when the umbilical arteries close and some of the studies they reviewed did not determine if this occurred. After birth the babys umbilical cord will be clamped and cut separating the baby from the placenta.
There is evidence that babies benefit from a delay before clamping the cord allowing time for extra blood to flow from the placenta into the baby. This is called deferred or delayed cord clamping DCC and we advise this for almost all babies.