[The umbilical cord of newborn babies should be clamped at least five centimetres from the abdominal wall].

A three day-old boy was brought to a department of paediatric surgery with mechanical ileus under suspicion of morbus Hirschsprung. Early into surgery it was found that the cause of ileus was an iatrogenic clamping of a small unrecognized omphalocele. In view of recent literature there is not found any evidence of advantage of near skin clamping of the umbilical cord. It is therefore recommended that the clamping of the umbilical cord is done at least five centimetres from the abdominal wall. If the umbilical cord is broad-based it is also recommended to clamp at a safe distance from the basis.