Intact Cord

Astrik Vardanyan

haikProject’s mission is to end immediate/early cord clamping

Umbilical cord cutting is one of the central issues of haikProject. We recognize that Immediate Cord Clamping (ICC) and premature severing of the cord go against the evolutionary mechanisms of human organism and may potentially pose harm to the fragile brain, heart and lungs of the neonate. Akin to circumcision trauma, ICC is one of the most common, but fortunately, easily preventable birth traumas in today’s typical hospital birth. (read more)

My husband, psychiatrist Arthur Pogosyan and I have tried to educate childbirth professionals and parental community on the crucial timing of umbilical cord cutting. When we first touched upon the harms of ICC, we sounded too unorthodox for medical community both in the U.S. and in Armenia. While there has been some positive shift in the discourse of umbilical cord in medical literature, this change is very slow. The health of millions of babies is being unnecessarily jeopardized by this unscientific practice. haikProject calls professional and parental community to join to our efforts in changing the harmful intervention of ICC. (read more)

Another thing very injurious to the child, is the tying and cutting of the navel string too soon; which should always be left till the child has not only repeatedly breathed but till all pulsation in the cord ceases. As otherwise the child is much weaker than it ought to be, a portion of the blood being left in the placenta, which ought to have been in the child.

Erasmus Darwin

The physiological functions of umbilical cord and placenta

When the infant is born, umbilical cord pulsates to transfuse the placental oxygen-rich blood into the baby. This ensures continuous supply of oxygen to the brain before neonate’s natural mechanism switches from placental oxygenation to pulmonary (lung) oxygenation. To put it simply, before the baby’s lungs start to fully function, the placental blood supplies the newborn with oxygen for optimal survival.

Physiological (natural) cord closure

Anywhere between 5-20 minutes the cord vessels occlude (“clamp”) naturally due to complex physiological processes: upon interaction with cold air, a substance present in the cord, called Wharton’s jelly, swells around the umbilical artery and causes vasoconstriction and natural clamping occurs. In other words, if left without external interventions (artificial cord clamp) cord arteries will close physiologically shortly after birth. The visible signs of physiological occlusion are:

• pulsation in the cord ceases
• the cord collapses

Immediate (premature) cord clamping

In modern hospitals an artificial clamp is placed on a still pulsating umbilical cord seconds after the baby is born and often, before the baby’s first breath is initiated. The amputation of the still functioning placenta from the child cuts off the oxygen-rich blood transfusion to the child, depriving the neonate from up to half of the volume of valuable blood supply. This blood loss in varying degrees, depending on the timing of the cord clamping, may potentially result in multiple adverse outcomes. If the neonate’s first breath is not

initiated and pulmonary oxygenation is yet not well established, even the brief disruption of vital oxygen supply to the neonate can lead to irreversible impairment – from subtle to serious.

Our seminar on Immediate Cord Clamping examines the scientific literature on the harms of this intervention, from anemia to permanent hypoxic brain damage, to mental retardation and/or possible development of autism. Learn how to prevent any harm to your newborn.