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Over the past 4 years, delayed clamping and division of the umbilical cord of preterm babies has become an internationally-accepted guideline.  The delay permits a needed autotransfusion of the baby’s own iron-rich blood from the placenta preventing neonatal anemia and facilitating better myelin production and neurologic development.

Now, neonatologists at the University of Rhode Island, one of the groups that championed clamping delay for premies, have published a study in the Journal of Pediatrics that demonstrates advantages of delayed cord clamping for term babies as well.  Their data on 65 term babies followed subsequently for 7 years demonstrates that waiting 5 minutes before clamping the cord while the baby enjoys an initial skin-to-skin encounter with mommy has tremendous value.

They found that delayed clamping leads to a 30% increase in total blood volume and a 50% increase in iron rich red cell volume.  Those infants had a higher iron storage levels at 4 months which was in turn associated with a significant increase in brain myelin volumes as shown on MRI imaging.   Previous studies on premies with delayed clamping revealed improved fine motor and social skills at 4 years of age.

The Rhode Island investigators hope that the new data will encourage more obstetricians and pediatricians to adopt a delayed cord clamping routine for not only premies but now for all newborns.

#umbilical cord #cordclamping #myelin #ferritin #iron #redbloodcell mass #autotransfusion #healthnews

Judith S. Mercer, Debra A. Erickson-Owens, Sean C.L. Deoni, Douglas C. Dean, Jennifer Collins, Ashley B. Parker, Meijia Wang, Sarah Joelson, Emily N. Mercer, James F. Padbury. Effects of Delayed Cord Clamping on 4-Month Ferritin Levels, Brain Myelin Content, and Neurodevelopment: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2018; 203: 266 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.06.006