Early Cord Clamping

I have not done any real, indepth study of the topic, but early cord clamping and cord blood banking seem like a scary thing for a baby. Perhaps it's a very simplistic thought process for me to have on such a complex issue, but it just seems to me that if God designed the process of birth to include the cord continuing to pulse with umbilical blood that is going to the baby, there is probably a pretty good reason for it to be that way, and the baby probably NEEDS that additional blood volume. I have seen cord blood banking done a couple of times, and it seems like quite a lot of blood that goes into the kit to send away. I asked someone involved in Cord blood banking about the amount of blood that is used/needed for the testing and banking process. She told me about 1/4C. Perhaps she was just throwing out a number, because I had asked for one esentially, but, 1/4 CUP seems like an awful lot!

If you think about the relative size of a newborn infant, and it's total blood volume, and you take 1/4 cup of the intended blood volume and remove it... Wow, what does that do to the poor newborn baby who is attempting to transition from intrauterine life, to extrauterine life. All while having his cord clamped and cut early so he is forced to breathe, filling his/her little lungs and all the other complex things that go on after the birth, and now, you are taking away the extra blood volume as well. When we as adults go in to give blood, they take a pint, it takes a month or more for our blood volume to rebuild itself back up. in the mean time, we mght be a bit weak, and have a difficult time adusting to the loss of blood. How much less is 1 (one) pint of blood compared to our total blood volume, then you think about a baby losing that much blood. In any other circumstance we would be extremely concerned about a baby losing that much blood.

I suppose if you just didn't know there was a different option that is one thing, of course I encourage mom's to educate themselves on all the issues surrounding their pregnancy, labor and births. But the dr's have heard the possible different theories on this, and many (dare I say, most) Dr's don't worry about the new studies and information available on the subject. They continue to cut and clamp the cord imediately after birth, for no better reason than it takes less time for them to complete the birth and be done and on their way. Not many Dr's are accustomed to waiting the average 5-7 minutes for the cord to stop pulsating before cutting the cord. Lets also not forget that once the baby is delivered, and free from the confines of the womb and free from the cord by which he/she has been attached and nourished by his mother, the Dr can pass the baby off to the nursery nurses, and his responsibility at that point is no longer to both the mother AND baby, but the mother only, and the baby is now in the care of the nurses and the pediatricians, Neonatologists, etc.

Perhaps this is a harsh opinion and I have given you nothing concrete to back up my point of view, but these are the thoughts I've had going around and around in my mind lately...

Below is a link to another message and this lady gives greate research and study information on this topic. Enjoy reading...


http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/restricted-umbilical-cord-problems.html