Midwifery Today Community

 Had a baby born yesterday, Grav 2, uncomplicated quick easy labour - completely drugfree, baby and mum wne thome 2 hrs postbirth, mum then phoned to say the cord was bleeding. Went to check on baby, found very slight oozing from the base as well as from the clamp. No other bruising or signs of bleeding internally, baby was totally fine otherwise, mum had chosen to omit giving baby vit K at birth (as m,ost of our mums do).....especially as there is a strong paternal history of childhood leukemia......the oozing continued for the rest of the day...by the end of the day we decided to give the Vit K, just looking for advice....would you ladies have done the same?? In medical circles we wouldve been wrapped over the knuckles for choosing to omit it in the first place...in naturalist circles we could be accused of acting too hastily, especially with dads family history....what would you gals have done...YAY or NAY??

xxxxxxx

Early jaundice? liver OK?

S.A.

Did the oozing stop after dose of vit k?  Newborn screening done?

Don't beat yourself up on this, you acted correctly.  That's what I would have suggested.  Cord oozing is not normal after clamping, you needed to get it stopped.

 Hi Guys, no early jaundice, all other screens normal, oozing stopped within 2hrs of Vit K. cant tell you how much i appreciate the advice, We are all alone here, with just 1 practise of 2 midwives for our entire area, so no support or sounding board to bounce things off other than the paed and hospital midwives which follow the medical model and are very critical of us "hippies" and the "voodoo" we practise.so silly.so many thanks, dont feel quite so alone