Delayed Cord Clamping
In a Nutshell
Throughout pregnancy, the umbilical cord is essentially the lifeline between you and your baby. The umbilical cord allows oxygen and nutrients to be transported from your blood circulation to baby’s blood circulation. The umbilical cord also carries waste and deoxygenated blood into your circulatory system to be eliminated.
On average, there is about 80mL-100mL of blood left in the umbilical cord. If we wait for the cord to stop pulsing before cutting it, letting all of that blood flow into the baby, that contributes to almost 40% of baby’s entire blood volume! (The average 8lb baby has about 270mL of blood in their entire body).
Dig Deeper
Cord Clamping during a Cesarean Birth
As long as there's no emergency, your care provider should be able to leave your baby's cord to pulse for at least a few minutes.
Delayed cord clamping has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Years ago, it was standard practice to immediately cut the cord and whisk baby away to be examined. We now know the importance of immediate skin-to-skin and delayed cord clamping.
Right after your baby is born, the placenta is still inside of you.
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Delay Cord Clamping in Operating Room
Make sure to have conversations with your care provider both prenatally and just before the time of birth. Remember that most of the cord blood enters the baby around 5 minutes. Since care providers are assessing baby’s APGARs at 1 minute and 5 minutes, they are already watching the clock. Saying, “We would like to wait until after the 5 minute APGAR to cut the cord” can be a concrete way to communicate your wishes with your care provider.