A slight delay in clamping a baby’s umbilical cord, can find a solution for iron deficiency in children.
According to the results of the study, conducted by UC Davis nutrition professor Kathryn Dewey, just a two-minute delay in clamping a baby’s umbilical cord can boost the child’s iron reserves and prevent anaemia for months.
“By simply delaying cord clamping for this brief time, we can provide the infant with the extra blood, and the iron it contains, from the placenta,” said Dewey, an expert in maternal and infant nutrition.
“This is an efficient, low-cost way to intervene at birth without harm to the infant or the mother,” she added.
She noted that although iron deficiency is a greater problem in developing countries, it is also a serious issue in industrialized nations like the United States, particularly for low-income and minority families and in lower birth-weight infants or babies born to iron-deficient mothers.
The umbilical-cord clamping procedure halts blood flow from the placenta to the infant in preparation for cutting the umbilical cord. The previous studies conducted on delaying clamping have indicated no risk and some significant benefits to later clamping.
The 16-month-long study was conducted at Hospital de Gineco Obstetrica in Mexico City, in collaboration with Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health. A total of 476 normal-weight, full-term infants and their mothers were involved in the study.
The study revealed that a two-minute delay in cord clamping at birth significantly increased the child’s iron status at 6 months of age, and it documented for the first time that the beneficial effects of delayed cord clamping last beyond the age of 3 months.
“The data show that the two-minute delay in cord clamping increased the child’s iron reserve by 27-47 mg of iron, which is equivalent to one to two months of infant iron requirements,” Dewey said.
“This could help to prevent iron deficiency from developing before 6 months of age, when iron-fortified foods could be introduced,” he added.