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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 Today, there are also questions concerning banking of umbilical cord blood, because it can provide stem cells that would be a match for the baby. "More and more parents are doing this," Cipriani said. "Only about half the time when you collect umbilical cord blood do you have enough for that banking."
One recent review showed that delayed clamping resulted in a decreased need for blood transfusion and lower risk of hemorrhage. Other studies, however, didn't find either approach to be vastly superior. Some studies have found that a slight delay in cord clamping is beneficial for preterm infants.
The new study involved no new research but, instead, was a meta-analysis of previous trials comparing late to early cord clamping in infants born full-term. Late clamping took place at least two minutes after birth, while early clamping, in most trials, occurred immediately after birth.
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Late clamping improved the blood count and iron status of the babies and reduced the risk of anemia. The practice sometimes resulted in polycythemia, or too many red blood cells, but the condition appeared to be temporary, the study authors said.
For some experts, however, the conclusions aren't definitive.
"This is nice work, it's an exhaustive analysis with twists and kinks in it, but the bottom line seems to be that there really is no clear harm or benefit from either early or late clamping," Yasin said.
More information
For more on childbirth, visit childbirth.org.
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