Don't Clamp Umbilical Cords Straight After Birth, Urges Expert

[pokerfan]

Interesting... I grew up on a farm and never noticed animals in a hurry to clamp off the umbilical...

ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2010) — Obstetricians and midwives should wait a few minutes before clamping the umbilical cords of newborn infants so that babies are not harmed by the procedure, argues Dr David Hutchon in an article published online in the British Medical Journal.

<...>

Hutchon believes that if the need for early cord clamping was removed from NICE's guideline, "there could be an overnight change in practice."

He concludes: "Clamping the functioning umbilical cord at birth is an unproven intervention. Lack of awareness of current evidence, pragmatism, and conflicting guidelines are all preventing change. To prevent further injury to babies we would be better to rush to change."

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101110191459.htm

[jdlh8894]

1. Allways wondered about "bellybuttons" on animals!

'I grew up on a farm and never noticed animals in a hurry to clamp off the umbilical...'

[Warpy]

2. Animals generally eat the afterbirth

and chewing through the umbilical cord is a byproduct of that.

As it is, many obstetricians don't clamp that cord immediately. They wait for it to stop pulsing, indicating that the blood circulation has shut down and it's no longer operating to supply the baby with oxygen.

[pokerfan]

3. Yeah

I never noticed a bovine midwife raiding our shop for a c-clamp. :)

Good idea on waiting though. No need to be in any hurray.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Somehow it seems intuitive to me that one would NOT be in a rush to clamp off the blood supply from

Mother to child...

[pokerfan]

5. one would think...

Sometimes we seem almost completely detached from nature.

[uppityperson]

6. I think they started early clamping because of jaundice issues.

Thinking that if they clamped it early, there would be less chance of jaundice and the associated problems. I'd be interested in reading recent research on this.

[snooper2]

7. you know, this makes sense, they probably should at least wait

until the circumcision is done, at least for boys...

:evilgrin:

[pokerfan]

8. oh no you didn't

:popcorn:

[jberryhill]

9. Whew..

Glad we finally figured out how to have babies.

[pokerfan]

10. How do animals manage it?

They can't even boil water.

[jberryhill]

11. I never really understood the boiling water thing

If, like, my wife goes into labor and the baby comes out looking like the mailman, do I throw the baby into the boiling water?

[pokerfan]

13. an excuse to get the husband out of the room? (nt)

[jberryhill]

14. Lol - my wife said the same thing - "to keep people busy" /nt

[Brickbat]

12. The one between my son and I burst when he was born. It was just a little scary.

[jberryhill]

15. My mom didn't cut the one with me until I was like, 25 years old /nt

[Brickbat]

16. Well played.