|Posted by transitionsbirth on February 1, 2012 at 10:50 AM| In
most births, the baby's umbilical cord is clamped within seconds
of being born. Recently, this practice has been called into
question. There have been several studies that show benefits to
waiting even just a minute before clamping the cord. More moms
are beginning to ask for delayed cord clamping, and sometimes
their doctors are not familiar with the benefits of it. Nicholas
Fogelson, an OB/GYN, has this blog post which summarizes the
research on delayed cord clamping. Much of the research he looks
at focuses on preterm babies. Some of the benefits seen in
preterm babies include fewer cases of intraventricular
hemorrhage and late-onset sepsis, higher red blood cell volumes
and hematocrits and less need for mechanical ventilation and
surfactant. In term babies, there were higher iron stores at 6
months. There is this study in the Journal of the American
Medical Association which Dr. Fogelson doesn't discuss that
looks at term babies: Late vs earl