A Study of the Blood of the Mother and New Born.

Abstract

Reports on the red cell count and hemoglobin content of the blood of the new born are at considerable variance. Williamson gives the hemoglobin as 23.25 gm. per hundred cc., while others have placed the figure as low as 15.6 gm. Red cell counts vary almost as widely with different investigators. This may be explained by the fact that many different methods of hemoglobin estimations have been used, and, further, to the fact that the blood of the new born changes rapidly. The steady fall in both red cells and hemoglobin in the first 2 weeks is well known. Lippman pointed out a rapid rise in the blood count in the first 6 hours of life. Consequently, we considered that blood taken from the umbilical cord would give more accurate information than the common method of drawing blood at anytime during the first 24 hours, especially since we desired to compare the blood of the baby with that of the mother. Red cell count and hemoglobin estimations were made on 50 pregnant women at term, using oxalated venous blood obtained from a few minutes to 5 days before delivery. None of these women presented any recognized pathological condition. The baby's blood was collected in sterile oxalated tubes (dry) at the time the cord was cut. Check estimations were done and the average is the figure used. The hemoglobin was estimated by the Sahli method, using Haskin's permanent inorganic standard. Of the 50 babies, 27 were males and 23 were females. The results were essentially the same for both sexes, so we do not report them separately. The average red cell count of the new born was 5.52 million per cmm., with minimum count of 4.45 million and a maximum of 6.52 million.