So, this is something that's come up a couple of times over the past month, and it baffles me each time.
A few weeks ago I was doing my first aid/CPR training, which covered infant and child CPR. We also went over guidelines for handling an emergency childbirth. I was impressed when our instructor, a retired paramedic, stated that he 'didn't really consider childbirth an emergency' because, in his words, 'just listen to the mom, she knows what to do, all you have to do is help catch the baby'.
But then, he said that immediately after, you must tie off the cord. When someone asked why, he said all the blood from the baby will drain back into the mother and baby would bleed out
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to question this further. I pretty much wrote it off as a bunch of paranoid hooey anyway.
Just a little while ago, though, I saw a prominent local doctor discussing emergency childbirth on TV. He also said that all you have to do is catch the baby, but then to tie off the cord 'definitely within 30 seconds of birth'. He made it sound like an absolute. A woman on the program asked what would happen if you didn't, and he basically said 'we won't go there. it's bad. let's drop the subject now.'
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I totally don't get this. It's contrary to everything I know about birth, especially in an emergency situation. My line of thought would be to leave the cord, even after the placenta is delivered, but at least until it's done pulsing and baby is breathing fine. In an emergency situation, would it not buy you a few precious moments if baby is born blue/limp?
Why does the prevailing 'wisdom' now seem to be that the cord is something dangerous?? Is there some legitimate danger to the baby that I've just never ever heard of? This seems crazy to me!
A few weeks ago I was doing my first aid/CPR training, which covered infant and child CPR. We also went over guidelines for handling an emergency childbirth. I was impressed when our instructor, a retired paramedic, stated that he 'didn't really consider childbirth an emergency' because, in his words, 'just listen to the mom, she knows what to do, all you have to do is help catch the baby'.
But then, he said that immediately after, you must tie off the cord. When someone asked why, he said all the blood from the baby will drain back into the mother and baby would bleed out
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to question this further. I pretty much wrote it off as a bunch of paranoid hooey anyway.Just a little while ago, though, I saw a prominent local doctor discussing emergency childbirth on TV. He also said that all you have to do is catch the baby, but then to tie off the cord 'definitely within 30 seconds of birth'. He made it sound like an absolute. A woman on the program asked what would happen if you didn't, and he basically said 'we won't go there. it's bad. let's drop the subject now.'
:I totally don't get this. It's contrary to everything I know about birth, especially in an emergency situation. My line of thought would be to leave the cord, even after the placenta is delivered, but at least until it's done pulsing and baby is breathing fine. In an emergency situation, would it not buy you a few precious moments if baby is born blue/limp?
Why does the prevailing 'wisdom' now seem to be that the cord is something dangerous?? Is there some legitimate danger to the baby that I've just never ever heard of? This seems crazy to me!
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Too much blood, too little blood - it's all the same, right? 
