Been catching up on Call the Midwife.

[conuly]

You know, back when the nieces were itsy bitsy I spent a lot of time at The Babywearer Forums, and then when they were in middle school I spent a lot of time at the homeschool forum, two rather crunchy places.

And something that comes up in rather crunchy places where many people have young children and are expecting another is... well, everything, but the relevant thing here is the umbilical cord, namely, when to clamp it. You may have never given this much thought in your life, and probably don't have an opinion, but if you did have an opinion it would likely be "delayed clamping". Something about anemia? If you have no opinion you'll happily let the hospital decide, of course, and the very use of the term "delayed" here suggests that they probably won't do that.

Consequently, after all the discussion of this I read, every time I see a Call the Midwife birth I'm left with the uneasy sensation that they cut the cord really early... even though, of course, they're well within modern day hospital norms and (I assume) the period-appropriate norms as well.

Comments

[topaz_eyes]

Delaying clamping can increase a newborn's blood volume by up to 30% and red blood cells by up to 60%. So it's great for reducing the risk of anemia and iron deficiency. Also, cord blood is a rich source of stem cells, including immune cells.

Considering a newborn only has about 250 mL blood total in its system, an extra 100 mL would make a big difference...

[conuly]

Which is why people with an opinion mostly have that opinion.