Yet again, I read about it. A baby born in the car, on the way to the hospital, and the 911 operator coached the father to tie off the umbilical cord with his dirty shoelace.

We should NEVER be tying off an umbilical cord with non-sterile items. Why not? In a word, bacteria. There are bacteria on shoelaces, and everything else for that matter. When a dirty object comes into contact with the umbilical cord, there is the possibility that the bacteria from that object can invade the baby through the raw cord.

The other reason we ought not to tie, clamp or cut an umbilical cord without appropriate medical staff present is that there is 90+ seconds of oxygen in the blood left in the placenta that still needs to be transferred to the baby. On the side of a highway, parents have no access to suction or resuscitation equipment. If baby is born blue/grey and not breathing, cutting off the baby’s oxygen supply can prove problematic.

There is no harm in leaving the cord alone until EMS arrive with sterile equipment to clamp the baby’s cord. There can be harm to baby if you tie or clamp the cord too soon with a non-sterile item. Penny Simkin can give you more details on delayed cord clamping. Dr. Alan Greene’s Ted Talk is also well worth your time.

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