[Umbilical cord: when to tie it?]

Tying off the umbilical cord during birth is the most utilized practice in the field of obstetrics. This technique is almost always carried out quickly, as a manner to aid the newborn child as rapidly as possible. On many occasions, professionals ask themselves if they do the correct thing or if in normal birth where a new born child does not suffer hypoxia, professionals should let the umbilical cord beat for some minutes before tying it off. The authors' objective is to describe and compare the benefits of a later tying off of the umbilical cord compared to an immediate tying off. The authors carried out a bibliographical review on Medline data bases and the Cochrane Library registry for controlled and aleatorial clinical tests published over the past 16 years utilizing as key words for their search umbilical cord tying, hyperbilirubinemia, anemia and hematocrit.