(OB's routinely second-guess nature's schedule and induce birth
artificially using synthetic oxytocin drips.  Such induction is widely
thought to reduce blood oxygenation in the fetus, which could have
effects similar to immediate cord clamping)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3528056.stm

Warning of near-term birth 'risk'

Researchers looked at babies born just a few weeks early

Babies born just slightly prematurely have more health problems
than those born at full term, US researchers say.

They found conditions such as jaundice and hypoglycaemia were more
common in babies born at 35 or 36 weeks gestation than those born
at 37 weeks or more.

The Massachusetts General Hospital team challenged the assumption
near-term babies did as well as full-term.

Writing in the journal Pediatrics, they said women should not bring
delivery forward believing it would do no harm.

Expensive care

Researchers compared the health of 95 babies who were born full-term
- at 37 or weeks or more - with 90 babies born at 35 or 36 weeks
gestation.

They found that the premature babies were significantly more likely
to have health problems. Eighteen had multiple ailments, while none
of the full-term babies had more than one problem.

When early delivery is clearly needed for an important indication,
people should not be too scared because with modern neonatal care
the vast majority of these babies will be fine Professor Peter
Soothill, University of Bristol

Hypoglycaemia - low blood sugar - was three times as common among
near-term babies compared with full- term.

Just over half of near-term babies were jaundiced, compared with
37.9% of full-term.

Among the problems suffered by the near-term babies were jaundice,
hypoglycaemia, respiratory distress, the need for intravenous feeding
and difficulty maintaining body temperature.

The researchers added that premature babies often required different
and more expensive treatment to those born at full term.

Pregnancy complications

Dr Marvin Wang, who led the research, said: "Conventional wisdom
has been that babies who were near-term, but still premature, would
do as well as full-term babies.

"But those of us who take care of these children know from experience
that they may have more jaundice or hypoglycaemia than full-term
infants do."

They noted that some mothers schedule planned Caesarean deliveries
before their due date to avoid muscle tearing or stretch marks, or
to better suit their schedules or those of their doctors.

The researchers added: "There can be valid medical reasons for
delivering early, but our study calls into question the presumption
that elective delivery at 35 or 36 weeks poses no risk to the
infant."

Peter Soothill, Professor of Maternal and Foetal Medicine at the
University of Bristol, said the problems experienced by near-term
babies could have been linked to pregnancy complications that led
to the early delivery.

He said: "For example, women may have ruptured membranes, infections
in the pregnancy, foetal growth restriction or too much amniotic
fluid, all of which may result in a baby being born a little early,
either spontaneously or because of the actions of obstetricians.

"Those complications in pregnancy would also increase the chance
of the neonatal problems that are being described, so without much
more information about the pregnancies, it does not seem to be
possible to separate neonatal problems due to being born a little
early from those due to the cause of being born early."

Professor Soothill added: "Spontaneous onset of labour and delivery
at term (38-41 weeks) should be the goals for pregnancy whenever
possible.

"However when early delivery is clearly needed for an important
indication, people should not be too scared because with modern
neonatal care the vast majority of these babies will be fine."