Delay in cutting umbilical cord good for newborns

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.

The time in cutting the umbilical cord, also called umbilical cord clampling, influences the resistance to oxidative stress in newborns, the findings 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.

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.

The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.