Cutting Umbilical Cord Early Eliminates Stem Cells 139
GeneralSoh writes "Delaying clamping the umbilical cord at birth may have far-reaching benefits for your baby, according to researchers at the University of South Florida's Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair — and should be delayed for at least a few minutes longer after birth. This new recommendation published in the most recent Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (14:3) notes that delaying clamping the umbilical cord allows more umbilical cord blood and crucial stem cells to transfer from mama to baby."
Re:ORLY? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:ORLY? (Score:4, Insightful)
"...delayed for at least a few minutes longer..." (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Keeping stem cells (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:ORLY? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How will they know when to cut it? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Also: Jaundice! (Score:1, Insightful)
Ditto... and I was born in a hospital and hand my cord clamped immediately... and I had jaundice.
The funny thing is, I knew about the stem cell transfer 4 years ago; it's part of the reason my kids didn't get clamped until the pulsing stopped. That extra bit of time with an operational cord also increases the length of time until nursing is required in a significant way, and reduces the effects of any trauma to the baby during birth.
Re:Also: Jaundice! (Score:2, Insightful)
I hope you are not presenting your anecdotal evidence as proof of your claim... because...it's not.
Re:Birthing centers already do this (Score:4, Insightful)
What is shocking is that most OBs don't know it.
It's not that they don't know, it's more likely most don't give a damn.
And don't blindly trust the doctors.
Fantastic advice, OBs often capitalize on the stressful situation and play the "dead baby card" quite often to do things their way.
Re:Reminds me of my mother (Score:4, Insightful)
My sister's cat is going to feel pretty silly about gnawing through all of her umbilical cords and eating the placentas. Next time I'll be sure to let Mittens know about the stem cells.
To be fair, she probably thinks we're the silly ones for wasting all those tasty stem cells on our measly one-offspring litters.
My wife is a Certified Professional Midwife (Score:2, Insightful)
And she has been saying this for years. Along with, don't take the baby away right after birth, skin to skin contact right after birth is important and let the kid nurse. Have your babies at home, you go to the hospital when you are sick and pregnancy is not a disease.
Re:Also: Jaundice! (Score:3, Insightful)
My guess would be the midwife kept the child elevated more in this case than the other two, avoiding the problem of excess red blood cells entering the child. Did she lay the baby on your wife's breast or anything like that?
It's kind of amazing (and by kind of I mean not at all) how when you do what is natural, it all works out. It's almost like we evolved to have live birth or something.