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.