Hot Topic: Delayed Cord Clamping
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Kaely Harrod 00:04
Welcome to doula Tips and Tits. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about doula
work, both to support you and to help you support your clients. I'm Kaely Harrod. I’ve been supporting
families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born 12, nearly 13 years ago. I am a birth and
postpartum doula childbirth educator, La Leche League Leader and a doula coach. I love guiding and
supporting doulas as they work out their doula business, it is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. This is the first episode in the small series that I am calling
point of view. And then whatever topic it is, so in this series, we’re going to cover how I kind of give a
spiel about a few different topics to my clients or to my classes, so that you have some context for how
I answer some of those questions. So the topics that we’re going to cover are cord clamping, delayed
bathing, first latch, placenta delivery, and eating while in labor. So we’re going to have this five series or
five episodes series. Today, we’re starting with cord clamping. And so we’ll kind of start there and then
work through these, these will probably be slightly shorter episodes than usual, the first episodes that
don’t really have a question. So I’m testing this out putting a title that’s just like a plain old title crazy
times. So my thought in this is that I want you to have kind of a short and sweet. Something to come
back to. So that if you’re teaching about this, you can like listen to it over real quick. Or you can also
use this as a jumping ground for you sort of figuring out your own thoughts and teaching style on these
topics. Okay, so the first one we’re gonna dive into today is cord clamping. So point of view. What is
delayed cord clamping? That’s still a question. Maybe I need to change. But that’s okay. Questions are
allowed. So um, when I have someone asked me this in like a childbirth ed class, I bring up two
different things. One is the research on delayed cord clamping is really worldwide. And so when we
think about the delayed cord clamping benefits, a good place to find those are like the World Health
Organization, like really like world wide health resources, right? It’s well known that a baby that receives
all of the blood from their cord is benefited in the same way that we would think a person has benefited
when they have all of their blood volume. The reason that is is that a baby’s blood volume at any given
time in the womb is 1/3 in the placenta and two thirds in the baby. So at the time of birth, some babies,
their cord is almost dead pulsing and their placenta is about to come. And all of that’s like nearly
finished. Other babies, their cord is gonna pulse for 10 to 15 minutes depending on how quickly they
came depending on how quickly their placenta is coming at cetera, et cetera. So part of what we do in
the US that is problematic to the research on delayed cord clamping is that we define delayed cord
clamping as a 62nd policy in most hospitals. Now, what we know about the research is that it actually
isn’t about just letting it pulse for 60 seconds, but actually letting it pulse until it’s finished pulsing. There
are some NICU doctors that I’m well aware of that are working to kind of campaign for at least 20 M at
least two minutes. So at least 120 seconds of clamping or of pulsing before clamping because of the
benefit that they see in their kind of most vulnerable population. And the way that it can be really helpful
to them and transition. Part of what I think is tricky is that the phrase delayed cord clamping is what the
62nd policy is called. And so if someone reads the like worldwide research on on letting a baby get all
of their cord blood and then calls it delayed cord clamping in the US most hospital systems are going to
then assume you want a 62nd Wait on clamping and cutting the cord. So what I like to talk to clients
about is if they’re wanting the cord to really finish pulsing before it’s clamped and cut and they’re in a
hospital setting, then saying that a little bit more explicitly on the birth plan. So something like allow the
cord to stop posting before it’s clamped, or allow the quote cord to turn white before it’s clamped. The
other thing that’s really important is to have a conversation with the provider about what their normal
kind of cord clamping process is. Because I know some hospital providers that don’t clamp at 60
seconds. If the court is not done pulsing, so then for that provider, you don’t need that on your birth
plan, because that's what they already do, right. But for providers who don’t do that, if that’s what your
desire is, you are going to need to have that on a birth plan. Typically, out of hospital birth, usually does
follow a little bit more of just like watching the cord, see if it stops pulsing and leaving it attached until
the placenta is born, etc, etc. But not always. So it’s helpful just to make sure confirm that that’s your
out of hospital providers, typical way of handling the cord clamping, of course in a scenario where
there’s an emergency and a baby's cord needs to be clamped and cut a little bit faster. No provider is
defaulting to your preference over saving lives. And so in that scenario, they are going to clamp and cut
the cord faster because the baby needs it. Right. The other one little asterix that I’ll add to this particular
episode is that if people plan to do cord blood banking, they cannot let the cord completely finish
pulsing because they need some of that cord blood for the banking process. What I have typically seen
is that a cord then is allowed to finish pulsing for only about 30 seconds, sometimes 45 seconds and
then the cord blood collection is taken for the cord blood banking itself. So that is one time where you
can’t have both if you’re wanting to do the cord blood banking, you can’t also let the cord completely
finished pulsing into this baby because then there’s no cord blood to bank. Okay, so those are two
things that I think are just important to know so that you are kind of guiding your clients accurately so
Okay, so the next one that we’re going to dive into not today but in the next episode is delayed bathing,
what the benefits are of that what that means what some people talk about when they talk about it. And
I’m hoping that these little short episodes are super helpful to you if you have follow up questions from
them. Like always, please do hop over to Instagram and connect with me there. The show notes have my Instagram is at Harrod doula, and so you can really easily jump over and send me a DM and I would
be more than happy to chat with you. All right, I’ll see you in the next episode. Thanks for joining us fo this episode of the doula Tips and Tips podcast. If you learned something today or had a moment love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at Harro doula, so we can celebrate alongside
you. If you found this podcast helpful. We would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating
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This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment it is not medical advice or business advice.
Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your
business. We’ll see you again soon.
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Delayed Cord Clamping. Letting the cord turn white. Letting the cord stop pulsing. What is the difference between these? Great question, I’d love to answer that for you! As a new doula it can be intimidating to feel like you need an answer for everything. If you haven’t already listened to the episode on whether or not you should already know everything that’s linked below. We’re going to launch into a small series on topics that come up frequently that I have a little spiel on. Today is cords and the clamping of the cords.
Episode 115: What Happens if I don’t know everything?
https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/kaely-daily-podcast/what-happens-if-i-dont-know-everything
Quote from the show:
“so the first one we're gonna dive into today is cord clamping. So point of view. What is delayed cord clamping? That's still a question. Maybe I need to change. But that's okay. Questions are allowed. So um, when I have someone asked me this in like a childbirth ed class, I bring up two different things. One is the research on delayed cord clamping is really worldwide. And so when we think about the delayed cord clamping benefits, a good place to find those are like the World Health Organization, like really like world wide health resources, right? It's well known that a baby that receives all of the blood from their cord is benefited in the same way that we would think a person has benefited when they have all of their blood volume. The reason that is is that a baby's blood volume at any given time in the womb is 1/3 in the placenta and two thirds in the baby. ”
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Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
