I've noticed a lot of commercials about cord blood banking in between the delivery stories on TLC (the stories that raise my blood pressure because they mostly portray women being saved from their "inability to birth" by way of a surgeon's knife). My thinking is that the best way to prevent many of the diseases CBB is intended to cure is to simply allow the umbilical cord to completely drain before clamping and cutting- a practice not common in our medically managed society. In the United States a woman gives birth and as soon as the baby is born the cord is clamped and cut unless the parents request otherwise. My son was born in the hospital after an epidural laced vaginal birth and I don't remember when they clamped his cord- I think it was directly after birth. But my daughter was born at home in a take-your-time atmosphere and we didn't clamp her cord until thirty or more minutes after birth. Her cord was thin and white- completely drained of the life-giving blood which is a stark contrast to the still pulsing cord so often cut too soon in hospitals. I understand the benefits of collecting blood from the cords as well, though, but was alerted to an alternative to CBB recently from another Natural Mama: collecting stem cells from baby teeth that could be a better solution. I've listed some scientific research which sheds light on why babies need the cord blood directly after birth. Thanks Mother By Nature for providing this handy list.
Early cord clamping deprives the baby of 54-160 mL of blood, which represents up to half of a baby's total blood volume at birth. "Clamping the cord before the infant's first breath results in blood being sacrificed from other organs to establish pulmonary perfusion [blood supply to the lungs]. Fatality may result if the child is already hypovolemic [low in blood volume]". -Morley, G. (1998, July). Cord closure: Can hasty clamping injure the newborn? OBG Mgmnt: 29-36.
Early clamping has been linked with an extra risk of anemia in infancy. -Grajeda, R. et al. (1997).
Delayed clamping of the umbilical cord improves hematologic status of Guatemalan infants at 2 mo. of age. Am J Clin Nutr 65:425-431.
Premature babies who experienced delayed cord clamping--the delay was only 30 seconds--showed a reduced need for transfusion, less severe breathing problems, better oxygen levels, and indications of probable improved long-term outcomes compared with those whose cords were clamped immediately. -Kinmond, S. et al. (1993). Umbilical cord clamping and preterm infants: A randomized trial. BMJ 306(6871): 172-175.
Some studies have shown an increased risk of polycythemia (more red blood cells in the blood) and jaundice when the cord is clamped later. Polycythemia may be beneficial in that more red cells mean more oxygen being delivered to the tissues. The risk that polycythemia will cause the blood to become too thick (hyperviscosity syndrome), which is often used as an argument against delayed cord clamping, seems to be negligible in healthy babies. -Morley, ibid.
Some evidence shows that the practice of clamping the cord, which is not practiced by indigenous cultures, contributes both to postpartum hemorrhage and retained placenta by trapping extra blood (about 100 mL) within the placenta. This increases placental bulk, which the uterus cannot contract efficiently against and which is more difficult to expel. -Walsh, S. (1968, May 11). Maternal effects of early and late clamping of the umbilical cord. The Lancet: 997.
Clamping the cord, especially at an early stage, may also cause the extra blood trapped within the placenta to be forced back through the placenta into the mother's blood supply during the third stage contractions. This feto-maternal transfusion increases the chance of future blood group incompatibility problems, which occur when the current baby's blood enters the mother's bloodstream and causes an immune reaction that can be reactivated in a subsequent pregnancy, destroying the baby's blood cells and causing anemia or even death. -Doolittle, J. & Moritz, C. (1966). Obstet Gynecol 27:529 and Lapido, O. (1971, March 18). Management of the third state of labour with particular reference to reduction of feto-maternal transfusion. BMJ 721-3.
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