<<They are now planning to recommend that the baby be held at a lower =
level than the placenta for a minute or so, while it is being dried off and
= given a chance to 'scream itself up a little' (my translation - it sounds
just = as bad in Swedish, believe me!).  I assume the aim is to get the
vascular = bed in the lungs properly filled with blood while the cord is
intact.  They expect to see far fewer anemic children in the second year of
life.>>

 

Dear Rachel and all,  thanks for posting this.  Looks like, finally, the
Swedes have instituted the science published in 2007, see:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1948088

Hutton, E. K., & Hassan, E. S. (2007). Late versus early clamping of the
umbilical cord in full-term neonates: Systematic review and meta-analysis of
controlled trials. Journal of the American Medical Association, 297(11),
1241-1252.

 

It is so frustrating to read that 1. 3 minutes is somehow the new standard.
What would be wrong with leaving the cord alone for 30 minutes as many
homebirth midwives do?  MotherNature didn't invent scissors and clamps,
after all, and babies have been born just fine without them for millennia.  

2. that the baby would be held below the level of the placenta and made to
cry.  Another interference in the natural process.  Don't physicians in
Sweden realize that there are two umbilical arteries and one vein??  The
blood doesn't just pour one way---it is a to and from system.  Just as blood
doesn't pool in your feet if you stand up, the blood doesn't pool in the
placenta if the baby is held in the mother's arms.  

 

It seems that even when baby steps are taken toward making birth more
humane, we still have so far to go.

Gloria Lemay, Vancouver BC

http://www.glorialemay.com/blog

 

 

 


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