I'm sure there was thread somewhere about the following subject but I can't find it. Any help in answering the following question from a friend wpuld be appreciated. Also, I thought the comment from her sister Kirsty a bit interesting, do many mums refuse the possibility of extra health benefits on the basis of aesthetics?

I have a question which I was going to ask you if you knew anything about, but thought if not then you might know where to find out more! When I went to the antenatal class last week they were talking about what happens after the delivery of the baby. Apparently I have two options regarding clamping of cord and delivery of placenta. I hope I have understood/remembered the details correctly:

Option 1. Cord is clamped and cut pretty much straight away and I am given an injection to speed up the delivery of the placenta which will then take 15-20mins. This is what I understood to be standard procedure, but apparently not anymore. Originally thought that this reduced the bleeding potential, but they were suggesting that whilst that is true in the first 2 hrs or so after birth after that the bleeding can be heavier and longer than no injection.

Option 2. Cord is not clamped and baby left attached and put to breast. No injection but suckling of baby encourages detachment of placenta etc, taking about an hour. This method potentially means more bleeding at first, but less in the long run. The potential advantage to the baby is that they then recieve all of the blood that is within the cord as the cord is not clamped and cut until all blood has gone into baby. Midwife even suggested that this has been proven to be beneficial for the baby. She said about some people having the cord blood frozen incase baby gets ill later in life, but why not just let them have it all in the first place....

So they have said that we have this option and we should think about which one we want. So I think I obviously need to discuss more with my midwife but thought that I would also ask you too (a little research project for you!). I spoke to Kirsty about it and she said 'why would you want the horrible looking cord attached to your perfect baby for any longer than you have to?'. Fair enough!

__________________
Mum to two beautiful boys.
Officially a Student Midwife!!
Moderator

SMNet University Student Representative

Hi Rachel
check out this thread for starters......
Management of the 3rd stage of labour

x

__________________
Site Administrator, Student Mentor Scheme Manager

STMW 2nd year - no, really!

and then this one
physiological third stages? do they happen in your trust?
x

__________________
Site Administrator, Student Mentor Scheme Manager

STMW 2nd year - no, really!

and finally this one!
Help please!!! 3rd stage of labour

there's hopefully loads of info for you to get your teeth into as it's a really interesting topic with lots to say on it!!
once you have read them, if you need any further help then just shout if you need clarification with anything.
The only thing i would say in addition to all of this is to remember to be flexible...
eg - if she decides to go for physiological 3rd stage after researching everything, if there is a problem with baby not breathing, the cord will be cut and clamped straight away and the baby whipped off to the resus anyway! Am not saying that to scare her just 'keeping it real'!! Women sometimes make rigid birth plans and then get very disappointed when things dont go to plan
happy reading!
x

__________________
Site Administrator, Student Mentor Scheme Manager

STMW 2nd year - no, really!