Time to Delay: A Literature Review of Delayed Cord Clamping

The timing of umbilical cord clamping during the third stage of labor has been a point of contention for many years. The estimated combined blood-volume of the fetal and placental unit is 105-110 ml/ kg [1,2]. Two thirds of this volume is in the fetal circulation and one third in the placenta. In his publication “Zoonomia; or The Laws of Organic Life” originally published in 1794, Erasmus Darwin was a proponent of late or delayed umbilical cord clamping [3]. Proponents of DCC site partuition in primates and other mammalian species as an example of “nature taking its course” while some early textbooks recommend early or immediate cord clamping (ICC) to facilitate neonatal resuscitation [4-6]. In “Lotus birth” or umbilical nonseverance, the umbilical cord is not clamped and, the detachment occurs naturally and may take as long as 3 days [7].