Why we must not cut the umbilical cord prematurely.
By Ilona Fritsch, HypnoBirthing ® Childbirth Educator
Did you know that when a baby is born, he does not immediately breathe? It might take a few seconds even minutes before he takes his first breath? In the womb, he did not have to breathe. His oxygen/food supply was flowing to him effortlessly. When the cord is left intact, there is no need to worry that he will be oxygen deprived. With the cord intact, the oxygen continues to flow to him.
Did you know that if the baby’s cord is clamped and cut, we deprive the baby of 1/3 of his blood?
Did you know that when the cord is cut, and baby does not breathe, baby is rushed to be “resuscitated”? Why not avoid this and leave the cord uncut until no more blood flows from the placenta to baby? The cord then will change color and become white. No more use for it, we can now cut it. Of course that means we have to have patience.
Waiting for the first breath;
It should go without saying that a newborn infant must be breathing before the umbilical cord is clamped. Until the mid 1980’s most textbooks taught this explicitly, and many encouraged waiting for pulsation of the cord to stop, as can be seen from the following quote:
“A strong healthy child, as soon as it is born, will begin to breathe freely, and in most cases cry vigorously. As soon as it has thus given satisfactory proof of its respiratory power, you may at once proceed to separate it from its mother by tying and dividing the umbilical cord.” – Swayne 1856, p.20
Also, we do not have to, we should not, pull on the cord to detach the placenta forcefully. When the baby is put to breast, soon after he is born, the baby’s mouth activates the mother’s hormones to help the placenta detach from the wall of the uterus and slide out on it’s own.
Let us help mothers make the right decision concerning the cutting of their baby’s cord.
March 30th, 2022
