Written By: Debjani Arora | Published : December 16, 2014 7:18 PM IST
London, December 16: Now it is official, you can keep your baby attached to you for a few more minutes even after the birth. This is because delaying the cutting of umbilical cord in newborns by two minutes leads to a better development of the baby during the first days of life, shows a study.
How does delayed cord clamping help a newborn?
The time in cutting the umbilical cord, also called umbilical cord clampling, influences the resistance to oxidative stress in newborns, the finding of the study showed. Oxidative stress refers to the imbalance between the production of harmful free radicals and the ability of the body to detoxify them through neutralisation by antioxidants.
Our study demonstrates that late clamping of the umbilical cord has a beneficial effect upon the antioxidant capacity and reduces the inflammatory signal induced during labour, which could improve the development of the newborn during his or her first days of life, said principal investigator Julio Jose Ochoa Herrera from University of Granada. So should you go for delayed cord clamping know about its pros and cons.
How did the researchers come to this conclusion?
While carrying out the research, the scientists worked with a group of 64 healthy pregnant women who went into labour at San Cecilio Clinical Hospital in Granada, Spain. They all had a normal pregnancy and spontaneous vaginal delivery. Half of the newborns had their umbilical cord cut 10 seconds after delivery, whereas, the other half had it cut after two minutes. The results of this research suggest that there are beneficial effects in the late clampling of the umbilical cord. There was an increase in the antioxidant capacity of mature newborns and there was moderation of inflammatory effects in the case of induced delivery. Here are five things that happen to you after delivery that you should know.
The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.
With inputs from IANS
Image source: Getty Images
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