What is BloodtoBaby?
CAMPAIGN - #BloodtoBaby started as a campaign - a hashtag which grew in popularity due to its simple description of optimal and delayed cord clamping - to ensure the baby receives its full circulating blood volume from the placenta.
RESOURCE - BloodtoBaby is now a website and blog, educating and sharing evidence based resources about optimal cord clamping for use by women, families and healthcare professionals. BloodtoBaby now has a team of motivated individuals to continue its global impact.
EDUCATION - We inspire and educate at international events and university conferences. With a new easy to use booking area. A new Learning Hub with evidence based modules centred on the physiology of newborn transition with optimal cord clamping.
COMMUNITY - BloodtoBaby works by building a community to share and collaborate together to tell the world about the benefits of optimal/delayed cord clamping. Social media connects us all and networking effects huge change. Become a member and join our Forum area to network with others.
So what is the difference between Optimal and Delayed Cord Clamping?
Delayed Cord Clamping
Delayed cord clamping is the name typically given to a practice of waiting before clamping the baby's umbilical cord at birth. It is recommended by many international bodies including The World Health Organisation, ACOG, RCOG and NICE. There is a huge amount of research that recommends delayed cord clamping, for all babies and particularly preterm neonates. The timing of the delay in clamping and cutting the umbilical cord varies from 1 - 5 minutes, with longer times providing the most advantage to the newborn. Delayed cord clamping can also be called deferred cord clamping.
Optimal Cord Clamping
Optimal cord clamping is the term used when the umbilical cord vessels are allowed to close naturally, until the cord stops pulsating and becomes white before it is clamped and cut. This often takes much longer than 5 minutes. Again there is no set time definition, some cords complete the blood transfer quickly, others continue to pulse for up to an hour. The hashtag #waitforwhite is often used to describe this process. Optimal cord clamping has the greatest advantages to the newborn. Optimal cord clamping allows all baby's circulating iron, oxygen and stem cell rich blood to move from the placenta to the baby. Baby makes a gentle cardio-pulmonary transition at birth and the mother baby unit is protected, enabling the benefits of skin to skin contact and initiation of breastfeeding if the woman chooses.
"To sever the umbilicus when the child has scarcely left the mother's womb is an act of cruelty whose ill effects are immeasurable. To conserve it intact while it still pulses is to transform the act of birth."
Frederick Leboyer