delayed cord clamping and epidrual

**Calluna** · February 4th, 2009, 01:37 PM

I spoke to the Ob about this today and he told me that there are new studies that show that cord clamping may be detrimental to the baby. He didn't say much more so I was wondering if anyone had any idea what these "new studies" might be and what they said? It's so confusing, I never know if Im getting all the information or not from either side, I just want to know whats best for my baby!

**Tanya** · February 4th, 2009, 01:42 PM

Heva, Without speaking to your Dr, he may be talking about the increased incidence of jaundice? Because of the increase in blood volume that goes to the baby there is more bilirubin.... However this increase is not detrimental to bub, infact jaundice in this form is perfectly normal for bubs.

**Calluna** · February 4th, 2009, 02:09 PM

he did say to do a bit of research of my own, but aside from bellybelly i dont really know where to look, and everything on bb that i could find only has positive outcomes so i dont know whether its a little biased or not - no offence.
as well as that he said they were new studies and all the articles and threads are old.

what exactly is jaundice?

oops, kinda hijacked the thread, sorry

**visitor1** · February 4th, 2009, 02:21 PM

I had delayed claming and my DS did get juandice but only K2 (which from what ive been told only means half of the body, head to belly button) by day 4 it had gone to K1 which is minimal, was mainly just his neck and face. Never hurt him at all. Increased feeds helped him get rid of it.

**Schmickers** · February 4th, 2009, 02:24 PM

I spoke to the Ob about this today and he told me that there are new studies that show that cord clamping may be detrimental to the baby. He didn't say much more so I was wondering if anyone had any idea what these "new studies" might be and what they said? It's so confusing, I never know if Im getting all the information or not from either side, I just want to know whats best for my baby!

I would go so far as to say that what your Ob has told you is not in fact true. I've followed the research fairly closely in recent years and there is not any new research I am aware of that indicates that there is any detriment to the baby.

For your own research, I have posted some links to a number of articles below, based on a brief Google Scholar search for recent research on "delayed cord clamping". All published in the last 4 years:

...the last one being the most telling.

I would strongly encourage you to push for delayed cord clamping. The research is clearly in favour of it, despite what your OB has said; given that there is so much favourable research about delayed clamping, it would have to be some pretty significant "new studies" to be able to overturn all that!

**Calluna** · February 4th, 2009, 02:31 PM

Schmickers- thanks heaps, thats exactly what i was looking for.

**OceanPrincess** · February 7th, 2009, 09:21 AM

Unfortunately can't get to the last article without paying 30 pound for it...

The interesting thing I notice is that all the other articles seem to talk about the benefits for preterm infants. What about a baby that is term?

I asked my Obs about this yesterday at my 38wk appt and she said that the baby can get too much cord blood and cause jaundice, as mentioned above by a PP.

She said that a new study is about to start at the Royal Women's about delaying the cord clamping for premmie babies, but that she said the evidence just isn't there to support delaying the clamping for term babies.

**Schmickers** · February 7th, 2009, 11:19 AM

The whole cord blood leads to jaundice thing is a myth, not to mince words. It's been done to death, and there are tons of studies that disprove any link between delayed clamping and jaundice.

And while what your OB is saying is true, it's only half the truth; while there is not much evidence to say that there is any benefit to term babies, there is also no evidence (at all, really) that might indicate that is a risk. And lets face it, if it's beneficial to premmie babies to have some extra iron, why not to term babies?

Here is one theory I have heard about how delaying clamping can help a term baby. When your baby takes it's first breath, it will be expanding it's lungs for the first time. The lungs are like big sponges with a very rich blood supply. That blood has to come from somewhere - if the cord has been clamped, the blood has to be drawn from the rest of the circulation, which leads to a drop in blood pressure. If the cord is not clamped, then the baby has a rich blood supply it can draw on.

I still don't agree with your OB, and I don't think they are really presenting a lot of evidence. It is worth keeping in mind, too, that delaying cord clamping also means that your baby will be skin-to-skin at birth, and not moved away from you to a heater by a midwife. Lots of babies are moved to a heater for an "examination" as soon as they are born when they are fine and there is just no need for it; the appropriate thing to do when a baby is born is give it to the mother and put it straight to the breast. I have even heard of babies being resuscitated while still attached to the cord - after all, if the baby is still attached and the cord is still pulsating, then it is still receiving oxygenated blood. I know of one case where a homebirth baby was born not breathing and they resuscitated it for 40 minutes, still attached. During that entire time the cord continued to pulsate and the placenta remained attached; once the baby was breathing the cord stopped pulsating and the placenta was born.

Good luck in making your final decision.

**christy** · February 7th, 2009, 11:40 AM

The whole cord blood leads to jaundice thing is a myth, not to mince words. It's been done to death, and there are tons of studies that disprove any link between delayed clamping and jaundice.

And while what your OB is saying is true, it's only half the truth; while there is not much evidence to say that there is any benefit to term babies, there is also no evidence (at all, really) that might indicate that is a risk. And lets face it, if it's beneficial to premmie babies to have some extra iron, why not to term babies?

Here is one theory I have heard about how delaying clamping can help a term baby. When your baby takes it's first breath, it will be expanding it's lungs for the first time. The lungs are like big sponges with a very rich blood supply. That blood has to come from somewhere - if the cord has been clamped, the blood has to be drawn from the rest of the circulation, which leads to a drop in blood pressure. If the cord is not clamped, then the baby has a rich blood supply it can draw on.

I still don't agree with your OB, and I don't think they are really presenting a lot of evidence. It is worth keeping in mind, too, that delaying cord clamping also means that your baby will be skin-to-skin at birth, and not moved away from you to a heater by a midwife. Lots of babies are moved to a heater for an "examination" as soon as they are born when they are fine and there is just no need for it; the appropriate thing to do when a baby is born is give it to the mother and put it straight to the breast. I have even heard of babies being resuscitated while still attached to the cord - after all, if the baby is still attached and the cord is still pulsating, then it is still receiving oxygenated blood. I know of one case where a homebirth baby was born not breathing and they resuscitated it for 40 minutes, still attached. During that entire time the cord continued to pulsate and the placenta remained attached; once the baby was breathing the cord stopped pulsating and the placenta was born.

Good luck in making your final decision.

I couldn't agree more. I did heaps of research when I was pregnant with DD1 (4 1/2) and DD2 (2). Everything I read said that delaying cord clamping was beneficial to the baby, I could not find anything that said the opposite. I guess I wasn't looking for it either! With DD1 I wasn't aware that you could delay cord clamping with a caesarean birth, but you can. Its worth knowing when you can or can't let the cord continue to pulsate. Matilda's was left for 2-3 minutes before clamping, but unfortunately being a c/s it was clamped. Jovie's was left and it took 10-15 minutes before it was finished. Neither of my girls have had issues with jaundice.

**OceanPrincess** · February 7th, 2009, 11:49 AM

Thanks for all this info guys. I think I want to delay it as much as I can - I am curious as to when it will stop pulsing. Schmickers I like the thought that my baby will still get blood from the cord when it takes its first breath.

More to think about...

**Schmickers** · February 7th, 2009, 11:28 AM

Unfortunately can't get to the last article without paying 30 pound for it...

Yeah, sorry about that. The article summary really tells you all you need to know, though, unless you want to really go into the ins and outs of how they did the research (and in this case, it wasn't really research, just a review of the literature).

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