Thank you for agreeing to collect your baby’s meconium and umbilical cord blood as part of your participation in the MECONIUM Study at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Here is some important information about how to collect your new baby’s cord blood and meconium:
1. Before going to the hospital for delivery:
- Freeze the gel packs at home
- When you go to the hospital for delivery, place the frozen gel packs in the Styrofoam box and bring the box and the sample collection tools along. The gel packs will remain frozen for 24 hours when kept in the Styrofoam box.
You can keep the Styrofoam box and sample collection tools in your car in case you do not go to the hospital from home. In this case, you can ask for frozen gel packs at the hospital in order to keep the meconium frozen.
- During delivery, we ask your Health Care Provider to assist in collecting the umbilical cord blood and meconium if present.
- Please give the included letter to your Health Care Provider assisting with the delivery. This letter explains the study and the cord blood and meconium collection needed.
- Give the biohazard bag containing the sample collection tools to your Health Care Provider. They will be able to draw the blood from the umbilical cord after the baby is delivered and the cord has been cut. In case meconium is passed in the delivery room, they will be able to collect the meconium.
- The blood collection tubes and meconium collection tube should be placed in the Styrofoam box with the frozen gel packs as soon as possible after delivery.
- After your baby is born, we want to collect the baby’s first poop. This is the meconium.
- Meconium normally has a sticky texture, like tar, and appears dark green in color
- Please fold up the first poop diaper, without any wipes, and place it in the ziploc bag provided with the kit.
- You can let the nurses know to collect the meconium in case someone else is changing the baby’s diaper.
- When meconium has been collected:
Please place the ziploc bag in the Styrofoam box with the frozen gel packs and call 347-620-0210 (available 24/7). This number will connect you with one of our Research Coordinators, who will then arrange a pick-up of the samples from the hospital.
If the first diaper is missed for any reason, we will collect the next diaper.
Please feel free to call, text, or email our Research Coordinators at any time with any questions:
Caroline Eisele and Nile Nair
347-620-0210
meconiumstudy@gmail.com