Study Links Delayed Cord Clamping to Improved Social & Motor Development

Swedish researchers have associated delayed clamping of a newborn’s umbilical cord with higher social and fine-motor skills in preschool boys. The findings, published today in JAMA Pediatrics, are of particular interest to those in the autism community who have suspected premature cord clamping as causing...

Effect of Delayed Cord Clamping on Neurodevelopment at 4 Years of Age

Importance  Prevention of iron deficiency in infancy may promote neurodevelopment. Delayed umbilical cord clamping (CC) prevents iron deficiency at 4 to 6 months of age, but long-term effects after 12 months of age have not been reported. Objective  To investigate the effects of delayed CC compared with...

Here’s Why Experts Say You Shouldn’t Wash Your Baby After Birth

Mothers of teenagers, think back to the happy day when your son or daughter was born: Shortly after birth your infant was likely taken away from you. It was to be expected—after all, the baby needed to be cleaned up and washed off. But now, experts are saying there’s evidence that parents should wait...

The Birth Pause: Unhurrying the Moment of Meeting

If a ‘pregnant pause’ is a breath held in a story, a moment’s stillness where we linger between what has been told and what is yet to be told, then what we are calling a ‘birth pause’ might be thought of as a breath at the moment of birth: a place to linger, suspended briefly between what has just happened...

The First 72 Hours Postpartum – The Little Things Make All the Difference

During pregnancy, we focus so much on the birth itself, that we often overlook the postpartum time; we write birth plans but don’t plan for what our needs will be after baby arrives. This time is so precious and fleeting; taking a moment to think through those first few hours, days, and even weeks to...

Fear-Mongering Among New Mothers Is A Profitable Business

It’s no secret that maternity care in the U.S. is under a lot of scrutiny. We continue to have the costliest maternity care in the world, yet despite all that spending, we still have one of thehighest maternal mortality rates amongst industrialized nations. And that rate continues to rise. With just these...