Skin-to-skin has become a birth plan buzzword. From boosting breastfeeding to brain growth, there are numerous advantages of skin-to-skin contact among infants and mothers.
Let’s learn more about how skin to skin can be helpful!
Newborns love to be nestled and held. However, recent evidence proposes that being in skin-to-skin contact with a parent accomplishes something beyond satisfying the child. It can help support breastfeeding issues, forestall hypoglycemia and other baby troubles, lessen your pain, settle premature babies, and so much more.
That is quite impressive for something so low-tech, right?
Skin-to-skin contact, also known as kangaroo care, is the practice of placing your baby, belly down, directly on your or your partner's bare chest. Your baby’s skin has direct contact with your or your partner’s skin.
Skin-to-skin contact can be practiced by both mothers and fathers and can begin shortly after the baby is born and continued throughout infancy.
Following birth, there are three steps to take to give skin-to-skin to your newborn:
Have somebody place your naked infant on your uncovered chest so you two are settled chest-to-chest.
Turn your baby's face sideways in a place that keeps the airway open.
Stay in this position for at least an hour before healthcare staff take the baby to be weighed and measured.
The first hour after childbirth is known as the Sacred Hour (and it truly is!). It is a special bonding time that starts when your child is set skin-to-skin on your chest just after delivery.
This helps with the transition from fetal to newborn life.
Babies who get this sacred hour have greater respiratory, temperature, and glucose stability and significantly less crying.
Mothers who get to hold their newborns skin to skin after birth have increased maternal behaviors, show more confidence in caring for their babies and breastfeed for longer durations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that healthy infants be placed and remain in direct skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately after delivery until the first feeding is accomplished. Even if you have a C-section this is still possible!
Studies prove the importance of Skin to Skin even after the first hour of birth!
Besides stimulating hormones to support breastfeeding, the skin to skin contact provides the following benefits to both baby and mommy:
Calms and relaxes both mother and child
Regulates the infant's pulse and breathing, assisting them with adjusting to life outside the mother's womb
It makes the baby cry less often
Increases digestion
Empowers colonization of the baby's skin with the mother's friendly bacteria, consequently giving safety against infection
Helps regulate babies temperature
Strengthens immune system
True!
Moms who did skin to skin with their baby in the first month after delivery reported less symptoms of depression.
How? Well, skin to skin can increase oxytocin release from mom. Remember oxytocin is the “love hormone” and this may help protect against postpartum depression. Even if you are not breastfeeding, you can still get the benefits of oxytocin with skin to skin!
Researchers found that moms who provided skin to skin the first month had lower cortisol levels than mothers who did not have skin-to-skin contact with their baby. Babies who had skin to skin also had lower cortisol levels! Cortisol is the main hormone involved in stress. Decreased cortisol shows improvement in stress levels in both mom and baby who did skin to skin!
Should Partners do Skin-to-Skin Contact with Their Infants?
YES! Partners, too, feel a surge of hormones and happiness. Bonding with their baby, becoming more secure as a parent, and feeling a burst of affection toward their baby are all advantages of skin-to-skin contact for partners.
Even immediately after birth, if mom is unable to provide skin to skin, studies have shown that partners providing skin to skin can also provide benefits for the baby!
Partners will benefit from the same advantages as moms do to regulate their baby's temperature and pulse. In addition, when a partner is bonding with the baby one-on-one, Mom will have some rest.
It is not just the skin-to-skin touch that occurs immediately after birth that is helpful. Most doctors advise giving it at least three months for full-term babies and six months for premature babies. Aim for 1 hour once or twice a day!
You may continue skin-to-skin contact for months if your baby is content. It has many advantages for both you and your baby!
Hold your baby close from the beginning and continue keeping your child close all through the early stages. The power of touch is beneficial for your infant—and useful for you as well!
