Cathy, I remember hearing the stuff about cutting the cord to avoid baby
getting jaundiced from too many red blood cells.  Specifically the practice
that was frowned upon was "cord stripping," where a no longer pulsating
cord was "milked" toward the baby's body to squoosh a little more blood
into the baby.  I don't know if this practice ever caught on anywhere but
it was being talked about, at least, when my first son was born almost 20
years ago.  I think there was a non-scientific leap from this "cord
stripping" practice, where I can see there would be concerns, to the
practice of allowing the cord to stop pulsating, in which case presumably
the baby gets just the right amount of blood because it's his/her heart
doing the pumping, and his/her blood being pumped.  But of course, there
was the grave concern about how long one has to wait around while the cord
continues to pulse, I mean really, that can't be good for anyone....
<tongue firmly planted in cheek here>

Mary Renard RN BSN IBCLC
current Lactnet lurker
former IBLCE staff member
pre-med student looking forward to MCATs in April