No Clamping, Please.
Hospitals routinely clamp and cut your baby's umbilical cord as soon as possible so they can whisk the baby away to the assessment station, check all the boxes, and move on to the next room. That whisking away is itself part of the problem. The good news: if you advocate to keep your baby attached, there won't be any whisking away at all — you get your skin-to-skin golden hour, blissfully unbothered.
Delayed cord clamping also gives your placenta time to detach on its own schedule, without being pushed on or yanked. As your baby starts breathing air on its own, its circulation shifts — and that's what naturally signals the cord to stop pulsing, on its own timeline, rather than being cut short by the clock on the wall.
Please enjoy this video of DONA (Doulas of North America) International founder Penny Simkin explaining why delayed cord clamping is vital for your baby's health.
DONA Founder Penny Simkin talks about the importance of leaving baby’s umbilical cord as long as possible, at least until it stops pulsing
If you’d like additional scientific reading on this subject, check out this 2025 peer reviewed paper from the National Library of Medicine.