Revista de Biologia Neonatal

Abstrato

Time to Delay: A Literature Review of Delayed Cord Clamping

Amitai Kohn

Although the optimal time for clamping the umbilical cord has, for many years, been a source of active debate, studies in the last decades provide good evidence in support of Delayed Cord Clamping (DCC). Documented benefits of delayed cord clamping in preterm infants includes decrease in Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH) and Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), shorter hospital stays, and improved developmental outcome. Term infants have less early anemia and better iron stores and, in limited resource countries, better nutrition and less late anemia. This review will describe historical and more recent information about the practice of delayed umbilical cord clamping, the impact on both term and preterm infants as well as the effects on the laboring mother.