Sunday, February 23, 2014

Skin to Skin Contact: The Right Start


Being skin to skin with your baby after birth has many benefits on your health and baby's health including:

  • Baby is warmer. Your skin is a radiant warmer and will help regulate your baby's body temperature. Simply lay baby on your skin, abdomen or chest, dry the baby off while there and put warm blankets over you and baby.

  • Baby breathes more normally. Babies who are skin to skin with mom after birth breathe more easily and more rhythmically.

  • Baby cries less. The comfort of being with mom leads to babies who cry less after the initial cries at birth.

  • More breast milk. When babies are skin to skin after birth, they are more likely to nurse and nurse sooner and longer. This can lead to a better breast milk supply.

  • Baby can her your heart beat. After nine long months of hearing your heart beat, your baby feels comforted by hearing the heart beat he or she has grown with.

  • Baby is more likely to have a normal heart rate. All of these add up to a baby who is more stable.

Skin to skin with baby is good for all types of births, assuming your baby is stable.   Often even after a cesarean birth mom can hold baby skin to skin ; or dad can perform this important role if mom is not available.  There are a multitude of studies that show that mothers and babies should be together, skin to skin (baby naked, not wrapped in a blanket), immediately after birth, as well as throughout the fourth trimester. 

We know that this is true not only for the baby born at term and in good health, but even for the premature baby. Skin to skin contact and Kangaroo Mother Care can contribute much to the care of the premature baby. Even babies on oxygen can be cared for skin to skin, and this helps reduce their needs for oxygen, and keeps them more stable in other ways as well.

From the point of view of breastfeeding, babies who are kept skin to skin with the mother immediately after birth for at least an hour, are more likely to latch on without help and are more likely to latch on well, especially if the mother did not receive medication during the labor or birth. 

There is no reason that the vast majority of babies cannot be skin to skin with the mother immediately after birth for at least an hour. Hospital routines, such as weighing the baby, should not take precedence.

The baby should be dried off and placed on the mother. Nobody should be pushing the baby to do anything; nobody should be trying to help the baby latch on during this time. The mother and baby should be left to enjoy each other’s company. (The mother and baby should not be left alone, however, especially if the mother has received medication, and it is important that not only the mother’s partner, but also a nurse, midwife, doula or physician stay with them—occasionally, some babies do need medical help and someone qualified should be there “just in case”). If the optional eyedrops and the injection of vitamin K are being administered, they can wait a couple of hours.

Studies have shown that even premature babies, as small as 1200 g (2 lb 10 oz) are more stable metabolically (including the level of their blood sugars) and breathe better if they are skin to skin immediately after birth. The need for an intravenous infusion, oxygen therapy or a nasogastric tube, for example, or all the preceding, does not preclude skin to skin contact. Skin to skin contact is quite compatible with other measures taken to keep the baby healthy. Of course, if the baby is quite sick, the baby’s health must not be compromised, but any premature baby who is not suffering from respiratory distress syndrome can be skin to skin with the mother immediately after birth. Indeed, in the premature baby, as in the full term baby, skin to skin contact may decrease rapid breathing into the normal range.

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