Wait few minutes while clamping umbilical cord
Clamping the umbilical cord straight after birth does not benefit mother or baby and may actually be harmful, experts have warned recently. Instead, leaving the cord for around three minutes can boost the baby's iron stores, cutting the risk of anaemia.
Babies born prematurely would particularly benefit from delayed clamping where it is safe to do so, a British Medical Journal said. Early clamping is widely used as part of "active birth management" guidelines, which have been shown to prevent the mother from haemorrhage immediately after birth. But Dr Andrew Weeks, senior lecturer in obstetrics at the University of Liverpool, said "Although some steps were important, there was no evidence that clamping the cord immediately had any benefit for the mother.
In the baby, evidence has shown that allowing the cord blood to keep flowing for a few minutes increases the iron stores." In the developing countries like Bangladesh, where anaemia is a big problem, practices should be changed to delay clamping and the World Health Organisation has dropped early clamping from its guidelines. But People are reluctant to remove it because it is part of current culture.
Dr Weeks, an obstetrician of UK said, "There is now considerable evidence that early cord clamping does not benefit mothers or babies and may even be harmful." He recommended waiting three minutes in healthy babies but informed that the issue was more complicated in babies born prematurely or by caesarean section even though they would perhaps benefit the most.
There have been concerns that in healthy babies delaying clamping could increase the risk of jaundice, but a recent study in the US suggested this was not the case. There are some exceptions when it would be dangerous to delay clamping because the baby needed medical support. Experts recommended doctors to discuss the issue with midwives and other health worker related with this field.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments