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Delayed cord clamping is waiting until the cord stops pulsing to clamp and cut it.
In my research, I have been finding that delayed cord clamping is helpful to the baby and provides the baby with healthy placental blood.
At a recent birth, I was taken back when a doctor made a very negative comment about delayed cord clamping saying "I am not going to injure a baby for some idiotic idea." His explanation was that the cord blood can provide too much blood to the baby making the red blood cell count too high or not enough blood and can make the baby anemic.
I had no idea that this was out there. Most practitioners (OB's and Midwives) I have worked with are very open to delayed cord clamping.
Looks like I will be doing a little more research on this so that I am more familiar with both sides of the study. Although, I still believe that delayed cord clamping has a positive result for the baby.
Anyone out there have thoughts on this?
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6 comments:
Something to consider in deciding about cord clamping is that if you decide to save the cord blood (either to freeze/bank for future personal use or if you choose to donate it to a blood bank), the cord must be clamped immediately so that the blood can be harvested from the cord. As a doula, I encourage women to look into donation to our local blood bank but they must also realize that this means early cord clamping.
I don't think the doctor would have phrased it that way if he (or she?) were truly educated... It sounds defensive to me (would we as childbirth professionals ever use the word 'idiotic' around a client to describe a process?), so I have to stand by what I have always thought, which is that delayed cord cutting is the more natural, the closest to what would happen in nature, so therefore the best for baby and mother. Studies are studies and definitely not perfect... you have to go with your gut on most things.
I've heard that side of it. I'm curious - was there a reason it was a suprise to everyone that the doc felt that way? Any doc I came into contact with at the hospital for my births were more than willing to do whatever I wanted as they knew I had previously discussed it all with my actual doctor...
It almost sounds like some experience he had was shaping how he felt about the situation...hence the harsh/rude reaction. Interesting.
This is interesting. I delayed the cord clamping when I had my daughter and I also saved the cord blood. I had millions more stem cells than I needed to keep the cord blood in the blood bank after they analyzed it at CBR. I will have to research it further too.
I recommend to my clients to have their dr. sign off on their birth plan before the actually birth so that everyone is one the same page at the hospital. But, in this case, she didn't do that. He was getting the info at the birth. You are probably right though, Hannah, it does sound like an experience has shaped his view, especially since there are great statistics to show just the opposite of what he said.
You can chalk this up to being the PERFECT story to share with future parents about how important it is to talk with your doctor about your birth plan ahead of time.In the grand scheme of things, this probably isn't the worst thing that could happen. But imagine if it had been something that would have changed their birth outcome. Know what I mean? Bummer, though, that they hadn't just talked to him ahead of time so everyone could have been on the same page. Would have at least given you a chance to research his reasoning (and for them to as well).
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