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Can you still do delayed cord clamping and cord blood banking?

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The decision to delay clamping of the umbilical cord is a personal choice and CReATe recommends that parents discuss their options with their Health Care Provider in advance. It is important to note that the health of the mother and baby supersedes any arrangements with respect to delayed clamping or cord blood collection.

Delayed cord clamping is often defined as more than 20 seconds after birth (1). Medical studies have shown that delaying cord clamping for 2 minutes (2) may help protect the baby from anemia during the first 6 months of life. This could be beneficial for premature infants, or infants in developing countries with poor nutrition, who have higher risks of developing anemia (3, 4). There is no significant impact or conclusive evidence on the long-term health benefits associated with delayed cord clamping (5,6).

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) recommends delaying cord clamping for at least 60 seconds in preterm babies (<37 weeks); however, for full-term babies, there is increased risk of jaundice when practicing delayed clamping so the risks should be weighed against the benefits (7).

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has released a position statement on delayed cord blood clamping, recommending a delay of 30-60 seconds in healthy term babies.

A one minute delay has not demonstrated a decrease in the cord blood volume collected; however a longer delay (over 2 minutes) will result in lower volume which correlates to lower stem cell counts. The health care provider may still attempt to collect the cord blood after such a significant delay. CReATe staff will analyze the sample upon arrival at our facility and determine its suitability for processing. If the sample is below CReATe’s standards, parents will be contacted at which point they may decide if they wish to proceed with processing (all fees apply) or to discard the sample (only kits fees apply if sample was not processed).

PeristemTM collection is not as time sensitive as cord blood collection and therefore not affected by any delays in clamping and can be collected at any time after the placenta and cord have been delivered.

For more information please contact us at cbinfo@createcordbank.com.

For further reading check the Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood.

References

  • (1)​ Levy T. and Blickstein I. (2006): Timing of cord clamping revisited J. Perinat Med. 34(4): 293-7 (Review).
  • (2)​ Hutton, EK et al (2007): Late vs Early Clamping of the Umbilical Cord in Full-term Neonates JAMA, Vol 297, No. 11.
  • (3)​ Chaparro CM et al. (2006) Effect of timing of umbilical cord clamping on iron status in Mexican infants: a randomized controlled trial Lancet 367(9527): 1997-2004.
  • (4)​ Van Rheenen P. et al. (2004): Late umbilical cord-clamping as an intervention for reducing iron deficiency anaemia in term infants in developing and industrialised countries: a systematic review. Ann Trop Paediatr 24(1):3-16. Review.
  • (5)​ McDonald SJ et al. (2008) Effect of timing of umbilical cord clamping of term infants on maternal and neonatal outcomes Cochrane Database syst Rev Apr 16; (2): CD004074.
  • (6)​ Geethanath RM at al. (1997): Effect of timing of cord clamping on the iron status of infants at 3 months. Indian Pediatrics 34(2): 103-6
  • (7) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1701216316343298