Effect of delayed vs early cord clamping on breast feeding and skin to skin contact rates

The Virtual Midwife

Teresa LW and Inderjeet Kaur, Fernandez Foundation, India

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends Delayed umbilical cord clamping (not earlier than 1 min after birth) for improved maternal and infant health and nutrition outcomes. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of delayed vs early cord clamping on breast feeding and skin to skin contact rates. Retrospective data collection of six-month data from 1741 mothers who birthed at Fernandez hospital is analysed from July 2020 to December 2020. The analysis shows that 292(17%) mothers had early cord clamping soon after birth of the baby followed by 1449(83%) had delayed Cord Clamping. The breast feeding and skin-to-skin contact rates were high among the mothers who had delayed cord clamping. We recommend delayed cord clamping for all births irrespective of the mode of delivery unless there is an indication to separate the mother and baby.