[Source:  Medical X-Press]

A five-minute delay in the clamping of healthy infants’ umbilical cords results in increased iron stores and brain myelin in areas important for early-life functional development, a new University of Rhode Island nursing study has found.

“When we wait five minutes to clamp the cords of healthy babies, there is a return of the infant’s own blood from the placenta, and one of the results is a return of up to 50 percent of the baby’s iron-rich blood cells,” said URI Professor of Nursing Debra A. Erickson-Owens, a certified nurse-midwife, who conducted the study with Judith S. Mercer, also a midwife and URI nursing professor emeritus. “So when the brain needs red blood cells (and iron) to make myelin, the robustness of the iron stores make a big difference,” Erickson-Owens said.

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