Posted on 11/19/2023 3:35:54 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Waiting for two minutes or longer to clamp the umbilical cord of a premature baby likely reduces the risk of death soon after birth, compared with immediately clamping the cord or waiting a shorter time, according to two companion systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Deferring clamping of the umbilical cord allows blood to flow from the placenta to the baby while the baby's lungs fill with air and is thought to ease the transition into breathing and to reduce the risk of iron deficiency in the infant.
The first meta-analysis included data from 21 randomized controlled trials.
6.0% of the babies who received deferred cord clamping died before leaving the hospital compared to 8.2% whose cords were cut immediately. This equates to the deferred clamping of the umbilical cord likely reducing the risk of death in premature babies by a third (an odds ratio of 0.68) compared to immediate clamping.
In a subgroup of premature babies where infants were born before 32 weeks of pregnancy, 44.9% of the babies with immediate cord clamping experienced hypothermia after birth, compared to 51.2% of those with deferred clamping.
The second network meta-analysis included 47 trials. For this analysis, deferred clamping was split into three groups: "short deferral" (15–45 seconds), "medium deferral" (45–120 seconds), and "long deferral" (120 seconds or more).
Compared with immediate clamping, waiting at least two minutes before clamping the cord reduced the risk of death in premature babies by two-thirds (odds ratio of 0.31). Statistical analysis found that waiting two or more minutes to clamp the cord had a 91% probability of being the best treatment to prevent death shortly after birth in premature babies out of the different timings compared in the study. Immediate clamping had a very low (<1%) probability of being the best treatment for preventing death.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
That makes sense. Give the smaller than full termed fetus a greater chance to absorb the nutrients of the blood and other fluids in that umbilical cord. Nurses would need to learn to control their learned impulse to quickly apply the clamp at that given moment.
From what I have read, some cultures don’t do it until the placenta is delivered.
Modern medicine strikes again with practices that are deleterious to people.
I have often wondered about the practice of cleaning the baby off too quickly as well. I’ve read that the vernix caseosa, if not cleaned off the skin, will be absorbed within a day or two anyways. I wonder if any studies have been done regarding the potential benefits of letting nature take its course.
Good to know, next time I get one.
Fast learners, those pediatricians. Curious what they’ll discover in the next Century.
based on what, the projected time it took for a mother to pull her own placenta out and bite the cord off???
Versus immediate clamping.
they said two minutes, why not time how long it would take in the wild, and use that as the clamp time, it’s even longer than two minnutes...
We were taught to wait until the cord stopped pulsing, then force the blood in the cord from as close to the mother as possible towards the baby, then clamp it on both sides of the blood-free portion of the cord and sever it there.
the pulse come from the baby? or the mother?
Best news all week.
I have read that some/all? wild animals eat the placenta. I wonder if ancient human females ate their placentas. I have a number of common allergies and between my first and second son discovered that taking extra Vitamin C throughout the day helped. My second son was born 4 weeks early, 7 lbs., but immediately developed “aspiration pneumonia”. I wonder if that would have been prevented if he had been given extra Vitamin C and tapered down over several days. My first son was 2 weeks post mature, and weighed 9 lbs. I had candida albicans, and he developed “thrush”. The doctor prescribed an oral antibiotic, but my son hated that so much the doctor switched him to Zepherin Chloride which he tolerated with less fuss. He then had severe colic for 9 months (disrupted gut bacteria from antibiotic?). At 9 months I started feeding some yoghurt and his colic was gone in 3 days. I nursed both boys exclusively for 4 or 5 months, and first son stopped around 9 months when my milk became too scant. The second son I nursed at least some for 2 1/2 years. I think this had a partial effect on his being a very relaxed and affectionate person. My second son even remembers being nursed.
Oh my! ;-)
uhhhhhhhh ....
Ya know, I can imagine some bunch of dirty hippies actually doing that ...
it’d a fad now...
4 Ways to Eat Your Placenta
Women’s Health
https://www.womenshealthmag.com › Life › Pregnancy
Double Oh my!! ;-) ;-)
yeah, no... yuk
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