Wharton’s jelly – the natural umbilical cord clamp

Wharton’s jelly – the natural umbilical cord clamp

Date: 2010.10.22 | Category: Birth | Tags: delayed cord clamping,umbilical cord,umbilical cord clamp,wharton's jelly

Are you wondering what happens to the umbilical cord after a baby is born? And how about the blood flow from the placenta to the baby, and vice versa? Anyone who has ever watched a medical soap on the television has seen that current medical practice supports clamping a newborn’s umbilical cord immediately upon birth, and then cutting it. But nature has taken care of this part of childbirth in an extremely clever and fascinating way already. It’s called Wharton’s jelly, and it is essentially nature’s own umbilical cord clamp.

Wharton’s jelly is a substance much like gelatine. This substance forms early on during pregnancy and keeps the blood vessels inside the cord protected. It stops them from collapsing. A free online medical dictionary describes Wharton’s jelly as follows:

Wharton’s jelly: A gelatinous substance within the umbilical cord. Wharton’s jelly is a rich source of stem cells. Named for the English physician and anatomist Thomas Wharton (1614 -1673) who first described it.

Its richness in stem cells is probably what makes Wharton’s jelly most interesting to scientists. But the great thing about this substance is that it essentially provides a physiological cord clamp. It reacts to changes in temperature, and ensures that the internal structure of the baby’s cord collapses. Of course, childbirth is exactly that event that caused those changes in temperature. After the cord stops pulsing, it turns limp and white. Wharton’s jelly is the substance that means that clamping the umbilical cord is not necessary. The human body does this all by itself!

Isn’t the physiology of childbirth fascinating, and, when you think about it, well and truly amazing?

11 Responses to “Wharton’s jelly – the natural umbilical cord clamp”

Anna 10/10/22 18:58

Wow Olivia.

That is so interesting!!
I do have a question as well.
could the blood that remains in the placenta still be used for medical stemcell donations after this occurs ? I think baby should have all the benefits of its own blood but if it is still usable to use …
Just wondering.

All the best and see you soon ;)
writenow 10/10/22 21:18

An online acquaintance of mine who is currently pregnant wanted to have her baby’s cord blood banked, but also wanted to do delayed cord clamping. She called up the cord blood banking company and asked this question. The answer was that no, you can’t do both.

It’s a personal decision you’d have to weight the pros and cons of, I guess. Do you want your baby to benefits from its cord blood right after its birth, or do you want to have it banked for potential later benefits?
jespren 10/11/03 00:00

When I gave birth to my daughter 7 months ago I was able to find a study using cord blood that accepted donations of any amount, meaning I could still participate even with delayed cord clamping. So while you ‘bank’ the blood, if you want to donate it for research the posiblity exists even with delayed clamping.
jespren recently posted..test post
writenow 10/11/03 09:36

Thank you for sharing that – it’s good to know!
Emala 11/05/25 12:42

But does that mean ‘delaying’ the cord clamping or copletely waiting, never clamping. ? And I guess maybe that other place only takes a sample of a certain size? Or does it get old (blood doesn’t keep well right)? And is it harder to get the sample without the blood in it?
writenow 11/05/25 13:35

Indeed, clamping the cord is not necessary as long as you wait for it to go limp and white. I never clamped my son’s cord, but cut it after it had stopped pulsing and went hard.

As for blood samples, are you referring to cord blood banking or simple blood testing? In either case, extracting blood from the cord is rather hard after delayed cutting, because the blood will have reached the baby instead. You may be able to get enough for a blood group test.
Donna 11/10/12 19:39

Gloria Lemay has an article on her site about blood sample collection from the placenta for clients who wish to delay cord clamping/cutting.

http://www.glorialemay.com/blog/?p=224
SSayers 11/10/13 00:07

I am Rhesus negative blood type. I wanted to do delayed clamping, but was told it would make it hard for them to test the baby’s blood type. Any ideas how to get round that problem? Also, if you wait for the cord to stop pulsing and go white, does that mean it can be cut without the baby needing the plastic clip stuck to their forming tummy-button for the next few days?! How long would you have to wait to be safe to not give the baby a clip?! It would make nappy changes easier! :-)
Erica 11/10/13 07:27

I just wanted to say that I delayed clamping for about 15 minutes and was still able to bank our cord blood with Viacord. And there was way more than the minimum required for banking still. So it totally can be done! :)

And thanks for sharing this- totally awesome!!
Christy 11/11/07 00:41

With one of my babies, I delayed cutting the cord for quite a while, and was still able to donate a bag of blood. With our last baby (unassisted), I did my own blood typing of the baby as I am also Rh negative. I did this maybe an hour or so after birth. The cord had not been cut and I was unable to get enough blood from the cord. However, I was able to get enough blood from the fetal side of the placenta. I just used one of the fat blood vessels from which to draw a little blood. You only need 4 drops, so while waiting to cut the cord may make it a little harder to draw blood, in no way is it impossible. I have zero experience in drawing blood or blood typing, and I was able to figure it out and successfully do the blood typing in about 10 minutes right after giving birth. I think the staff just doesn’t want to accommodate your request. Also, we used a piece of hemp twine to tie off the cord as opposed to the clamp. Even though we waited a couple of hours to cut the cord, it still leaked a little blood, so we tied it with the twine.
Sarah 11/11/07 05:57

For the Rh neg Mom – in order to minimize the chance of blodd transfer from baby to you, I suggest that you investigate delayed cord clamping thoroughly. Immediate cord clamping, together with the pitocin/syntocinon injection increases the back pressure from the engorged placenta and increases the risk of baby’s blood being mixed with yours. It is not only possible to get sufficient blood for all the tests you need (it’s a really small amount) but there are HUGE potential benefits to you and your baby by NOT clamping the cord. There are other sterile cord clamp options too – not essential to use the thick plastic clamps. Here in NZ by the way, it’s not possible to delay cord clamping AND bank. Personally I feel it’s wholly unethical to clamp in order to obtain blood for banking …baby NEEDS that blood (up to 40% of it’s blood volume, NEEDS those stem cells NOW not at some hypothetical time in the future and NEEDS that oxygen supply from the pulsing cord to ease the transition to air breathing.
Good luck!