Jess gave birth to her second baby Arya Ruby, followed by a physiological third stage in a planned hospital waterbirth. The hospital where Jess gave birth is located in the north-east region of Victoria in Australia. It has a maternity service that facilitates approximately 1200 births per annum with a level 2 special care nursery. … Continue reading
Wait ‘til the cord stops pulsing – one OB’s opinions There is an increasing number of parents choosing delayed cord clamping for their children, therefore an obstetrician from California decided to “research the pros and cons” of delayed clamping and write a blog post about this topic. With few references to be found in Dr. … Continue reading
The following decision aids have been produced by the Queensland Centre for Mothers & Babies. Choices about clamping your baby’s umbilical cord (2.16MB) “A decision aid for women having a vaginal birth. This has been written to support women planning to have a vaginal birth to know what expect and have a say in making … Continue reading
Choices about your baby’s umbilical cord and clamping– do you have all the information? In Australia, the Queensland Centre for Mothers and Babies are producing a decision aid for women titled (draft) ‘Choices about your baby’s umbilical cord’. From their website: “The Queensland Centre for Mothers & Babies (QCMB) is an independent research centre based at … Continue reading
International Conference on Transitional Care Cutting the Cord 19 April 2013 The event will be held in the Centre for Professional Development, The Medical School, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Please visit the webpage for this conference for up-to-date and correct information click here Programme “Childbirth today is safer than it ever has been throughout history. Modern … Continue reading
Gunnar Jay’s birth story Valerie and Zeke are proud to share the birth experience of their beautiful son Gunnar Jay, born March 8 2012 at York Hospital in Pennsylvania, USA. Valerie writes the attending doctors and several nurses informed her Gunnar was their first experience at York Hospital with delayed cord clamping! “Unfortunately we have … Continue reading
Elise is a birth and postnatal doula and has generously shared the birth story of her third baby Dimitri. This birth was in Swindon, United Kingdom. Dimitri was born via an emergency c-section, after transferring from a planned homebirth. Elise arrived at the hospital prepared with a birth plan outlining the “natural cesearean ‘woman-centred’ technique”, … Continue reading
Immediate and premature clamping of the baby’s umbilical cord is a ritual performed in many hospitals across the globe. Premature clamping became standard clinical practice without evidence and without regard/ understanding of the physiological changes in the baby in the first few minutes after birth. There is no scientific evidence that supports immediate clamping in vaginal or cesarean birth. For those interested … Continue reading
*Trigger Warning – in speaking out against birth violence, this article contains an image and descriptions that may be highly distressing. Please exercise discretion before proceeding* – - – scroll down to continue – - – - Midwife Training Film – YouTube Training in what NOT to do As of July 2012, there have been … Continue reading
Premature clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord can be highly traumatic Studies show that premature cord clamping can cause: significant blood loss for the baby (loss of 15 to 30%, and up to 40% -50% in more extreme cases of fetal distress and cord compression prior to clamping) (1) loss of red blood cells (up to 50%) … Continue reading
How have attitudes towards women, birth and babies changed since 1915? In searching for historical accounts of umbilical cord clamping, I found descriptions of hospital birth in The Physiology of the New-Born Infant: Character and Amount of the Katabolism, published in 1915 (Benedict & Talbot). In this book, the ‘general routine’ at the Boston Lying-in … Continue reading
Cutting of the nuchal cord before birth In the late 1990s, Michael Chow’s family successfully sued the doctors involved in his birth, after he became distressed during an augmentation of labour and was injured from pre-birth cutting of a tight nuchal cord. The family’s legal team presented the court with evidence his doctors should have been … Continue reading
Nuchal Cord: Ritual and Routine
A session presented by Cord-Clamping.Com for the 2012 Virtual International Day of the Midwife conference.
By David Hutchon, Narendra Aladangady and Amanda Burleigh. This article was published by the British Journal of Midwifery in April 2010, Vol. 18, No. 4. pp 269 “Selkirk et al (2008) state that the umbilical cord clamp has ‘evolved into a physiological necessity’. This is quite nonsensical for a number of reasons. Chiefly, physiological evolution … Continue reading
Do you find some birth videos scary to watch? I often search birth videos as one way of learning about the diverse rituals and practices performed during childbirth, across different cultures. Since I’m normally watching for rituals and interventions associated with umbilical cord clamping, I observe the birth attendants closely. I ‘evaluate’ whether I think … Continue reading
A recent article Mother and Baby – Positioning After Birth has been the most ‘shared’ article to date and generated some interesting discussions online. A follow-up post is being drafted with information about the scientific research on gravity, placental transfusion and cord clamping. In the meantime, below are some responses to the ‘Positioning’ article where … Continue reading
“This is the first moment we met each other. I was so overwhelmed and stunned that our baby was here that I hadn’t even picked her up! She is still attached to the cord and the placenta isn’t birthed yet. Before the birth, I had visualised in my head that I would pick her up … Continue reading
Cochrane Review – Effect of timing of umbilical cord clamping of term infants on maternal and neonatal outcomes 2009 The full review report, (plus responses critical of the inclusion of infants requiring phototherapy for jaundice as a significant finding) click here for PDF: cochrane review early vs late cord clamping review with responses Background Policies for timing … Continue reading
Overview of literature on immediate versus delayed cord clamping in full term infants Cord-Clamping.Com wishes to acknowledge the work of student midwife Tina Lundholm in the design and development of this literature overview. At time of writing Tina has completed her degree and has applied for registration to work as clinical midwife in Australia. Please … Continue reading
