Hellobee Boards

Remember, there is so such thing as your doctor "letting" you do anything. It's your body, your baby, your choice. In a normal, uncomplicated birth there is NO medical reason to clamp it early, it's purely a matter of convenience.

To reap the full benefits it needs to stay unclamped until the cord is white, shriveled, and there is no pulse at all. Nearly one-third of a baby’s total blood volume resides in the placenta at birth. Half of that blood is transfused into the baby by 1 minute of age. By 3 minutes, more than 90% of the transfusion is complete.

I often recommend to clients that they ask that the cord not be clamped until the placenta is delivered (unless there is an emergency, obviously) to ensure the cord stays unclamped long enough. Otherwise your doctor will go, "Ok, that's enough, we can cut it now!" after 30 seconds.

If you get any argument, you can always claim it is a religious thing. They can't really argue with that.

We couldnt delay the cord clamping because there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, so they rushed her to the cleaning station as soon as she came out. I am hoping to do it with #2.