If you are expecting a child (i.e. not twins or more) and are planning to give birth vaginally at birth SUS Malmö, you are welcome to participate in the study.

It is also required that the child is born during the week of pregnancy 35 or later and that you have been able to read through the parental information that is available AND have signed the consent which you can download here.

Bring the signed consent to the birth along with the other papers the midwife has given you.

The focus of the SAVE study is to investigate whether included children recover better by helping them close to the mother with the umbilical cord uncut. Prospective parents expecting to have children in Malmö are invited to attend. Each family's contribution is valuable. The project is being carried out by researchers at Lund University and staff at Skåne University Hospital. All research conducted in the study is approved by an ethics review board.

We would like to ask you whether you and your newborn would like to take part in a research project. This document contains information for you about the project, and what participating in it would entail.

In Sweden, almost one in ten babies needs some kind of measure taken, so they can start to breathe normally. In many cases, the baby has, for a shorter or longer time, an affected blood circulation in the placenta or the umbilical cord. Currently, if the baby, when born, exhibits insufficient respiration or does not exhibit any signs of life, the umbilical cord is cut immediately, and the baby is moved to a location where artificial respiration /ventilation can be administered, as well as other measures taken to help the baby recover. This is called neonatal resuscitation, or in Swedish, HLR (heart-lung rescue).
For full-term, healthy babies, the routine at the majority of Swedish delivery wards up until 2008, had been to cut the cord within 30 seconds after birth. Several studies have later shown that by keeping the umbilical cord intact for three to five minutes, a good deal of the blood volume that is left in the placenta may be transferred to the newborn baby. This has a positive effect on the baby in the form of reduced incidence of anaemia and iron deficiency and, in general, satisfactory development, without any observable disadvantages.
The above-mentioned studies have not included babies who have needed neonatal resuscitation. It is most probable that the blood that remains in the placenta is rich in both oxygen and nutrients. There is a possibility that babies who are born with oxygen deficit may benefit from this additional oxygen and nutrients if the umbilical cord is left intact for a few minutes.
This matter, however, has only been researched in a few pilot studies.
We wish to study what happens if the umbilical cord is left intact for at least three minutes during ongoing neonatal resuscitation, compared to the current practice of cutting the umbilical cord before commencing neonatal resuscitation. We will be asking 8,000 expectant parents and estimate that about 600 children will require neonatal resuscitation.

Immediately before birth, your baby will be randomly assigned, in the event neonatal resuscitation is needed, either to have neonatal resuscitation with an intact umbilical cord, performed next to the mother, or to have the umbilical cord cut immediately, with neonatal resuscitation performed on an adjacent resuscitation table.
The equipment and the staff who administer the neonatal resuscitation are the same. The only differences are whether the umbilical cord is intact or not, and the place where the resuscitation is performed. Depending on the needs of each baby, a baby needing neonatal resuscitation may be cared for either on the delivery and obstetrics ward or on the neonatal ward. On the delivery and obstetrics ward, the baby’s general well-being and blood sugar are monitored according to existing routines. Babies that need more monitoring and additional investigation will be cared for in the neonatal ward.