A friend forwarded me this wonderful letter in the Telegraph published very recently:
“SIR – After a 10-year battle, Amanda Burleigh has persuaded Nice to recommend other midwives not to clamp the umbilical cord of newborn infants immediately, to allow more time for oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood from the placenta to reach their as yet fragile blood supply.
Almost 50 years ago, two veterinary greats, Dr Peter Rossdale and Professor Roger Short, demonstrated the vascular benefits of leaving the umbilical cord of newborn thoroughbred foals to rupture naturally when either the mare or foal first stood up. This approach is nowadays used on stud farms worldwide.
We vets can teach medics a few tricks.
Professor Twink Allen
Newmarket, Suffolk”
We have long recommended that delayed cord clamping is beneficial for new born babies. It is great to that Nice (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) is now also recommending this. Here is a link to a comprehensive article by Amanda Burleigh about the effects of delaying cord clamping.