Cutting the Cord at the Right Time: It's Not Delayed, It's Optimal

I will always feel gratitude for the fact that when our baby was born, my boyfriend's one request was that we not cut her umbilical cord too soon.  At the time, it was a topic I was unfamiliar with.  However, researchers, childbirth advocates, and doulas have been discussing the benefits of optimal cord cutting--sometimes referred to as "delayed" cord cutting--for decades, a technique that can be used with vaginal or cesarean birth.  (I believe one of the benefits for my daughter was that at age 12 months, her blood iron levels were normal even though she never had iron supplementation, on a diet that still consisted almost entirely of breastmilk.)  Over the past year, I have been excited to see this topic emerge more prominently in the mainstream news.  One of its spokespersons is pediatrician and author Dr. Alan Greene, who founded the TICC TOCC campaign to promote optimal cord cutting globally.  Other excellent resources include doula leader Penny Simkin's video that beautifully illustrates the concept, as well as a longer, well-referenced lecture by obstetrician Nicholas Fogelson.  I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Greene and am happy to share a link to his compelling TEDx Talk about the TICC TOCC campaign, which he also explains below: