Two year follow up shows delaying umbilical cord clamping saves babies lives – News – The University of Sydney

Midwives welcome this research - delaying cord clamping ensures that the physiological changes happening at the time of birth can happen and there are clearly very good outcomes especially for premature babies. We can all do this and now we know we should, said Professor Caroline Homer, President of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand and past President of the Australian College of Midwives.

Moving forward its vital that perinatal professionals record the time of first breath and cord clamping to the second during births to allow for robust, large-scale data to further our work in this area, said co-author Professor Jonathan Morris, Professorof Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Sydney and Director, Women and Babies Research at TheKollingInstitute.

Intensive staff training in the new protocols will also be vital as it can be daunting to delay treatment in very early and sick babies but the evidence suggests this results in the best outcomes for these children.

The ALPHA Collaboration (Advancing Large collectively Prioritised trials for Health outcomes Assessment) will be vital to taking this research forward. They are an international collaboration of perinatal researchers, professionals, parents and policymakers that work with organisations and individuals worldwide to ensure that trials like this can, in the future, run at least ten times larger and faster, in a new era of increased international collaboration.

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Two year follow up shows delaying umbilical cord clamping saves babies lives - News - The University of Sydney