>>10759623I don't know what the rationale for starting to do it was. It began in the mid 50's and many older physicians were disturbed and horrified, and wrote about it in the literature. Nonetheless, wherever the push came from, it came to pass and became the norm.
Unlike something more obvious like eg circumcision, there's no real cultural defense built up around it. Sometimes it's claimed that it reduces the rate of neonatal jaundice. I dug for data on this and all I could find was a study showing rate of jaundice, which is trivially treated with phototherapy, was 5% in properly delivered infants, 2% in hypoxia subjected infants. Not enough data was given to look for other factors and correlations. What is known however is use of pitocin can prevent breastmilk production. If the infant does not have the colostrum in the mother's first breastmilk, it cannot close up the tight junctions in its intestines and it cannot clear out all the bilirubin etc in there. The colostrum has a laxative effect, binds, and clears that garbage. If it stays it'll go in the infant and cause jaundice. This factor is not considered in the papers I found.
Seldom it is claimed that giving the infant permanent brain damage benefits the mother. Actual data shows early clamping icnreases the rate of post partum hemorrhage.
It's an evil scam. They probably want to brain damage the infant and the stem cells in the placenta are just a modern bonus.
