Why is delayed cord clamping so important?

1. A third of the entire blood volume (about 80–100 ml)

For an adult, 100 ml is half a glass of water. For a newborn weighing 3.5 kg it is about 30% of the entire volume of circulating blood.

Why it's needed: At birth, the baby's lungs — until then «collapsed» and filled with amniotic fluid — must suddenly expand and begin to breathe. For this new system to start working, a huge volume of blood must instantly rush into the pulmonary vessels.

Physiological buffer: If the cord is clamped right away, the baby's heart has to abruptly pump the remaining scarce blood volume, which can cause vascular spasm and a sharp change in pressure. The blood that arrives after the placenta pulses acts as a gentle «transitional reservoir» that makes this start-up smooth and safe.

2. Iron — fuel for the brain for the first six months

Cord blood is incredibly rich in easily absorbed iron.

Why it's needed: Babies are born with an iron store meant to last until the start of complementary feeding (roughly until 6 months), since breast milk contains little of it.

A proven fact: Studies show that children whose cord was allowed to pulse for at least 3 minutes have significantly higher iron levels at 4–6 months of life, and the risk of iron-deficiency anaemia is reduced several times over. Iron is critical for the myelination (maturation) of nerve fibres and for overall brain development.

3. Those very stem cells (HSCs and MSCs)

Nature did not devise stem cells to be frozen in test tubes. At the moment of birth they do colossal work:

• Colonising the bone marrow: They migrate into the baby's bone marrow to launch its own, autonomous blood production.
• Repair «along the way»: Birth is enormous physical stress and an unavoidable brief hypoxia for the baby. Millions of stem cells, entering the baby's bloodstream, work like a built-in ambulance crew: they rush to any damaged tissue and microtrauma (especially in the brain) to begin regenerating it instantly.

4. An oxygen «scuba tank»

While the baby takes its first tentative breaths, the placenta keeps supplying it with oxygen through the cord.

This is a natural safeguard against hypoxia. If the baby doesn't cry right away (quite common in gentle births, when little ones come to gradually and without stress), the pulsing cord keeps «breathing» for it, supplying the brain with oxygen through warm, enriched placental blood.

5. Immunoglobulins, platelets, and proteins

Placental blood is literally charged with maternal antibodies (class IgG immunoglobulins), which give the baby passive immunity against infections in the first months of life, as well as clotting factors that protect the newborn from bleeding.

A vivid comparison: Collecting cord blood for a bank right at birth is like taking a third of a marathon runner's water reserve and warm blanket away at the finish line, promising to return them in 20 years if they happen to fall ill.