One of the sweetest experiences a person can have is cuddling their brand new fresh little baby. They're all warm and squirmy and soft and tiny. Its common for babies this fresh to be alert, looking around and figuring out how senses work. Being skin to skin with their mother is exactly where your baby should be to get to know their new world.
In addition to the parental benefit of squishy baby snuggles, there are lots of benefits of skin to skin for baby! These include temperature regulation (often better than the baby warmer!) and more stable glucose levels. For those wishing to breastfeed, mothers who had skin to skin are more likely to breastfeed longer than mothers who did not.
So, how do I go about getting skin to skin?
This is probably one of the easiest things that has ever existed. Immediately after birth, or as soon after, put that baby on your bare chest. They can have a diaper on, but there shouldn’t be anything else between you. Most newborn procedures can be done with the baby right there on your chest. If you want delayed cord clamping, you can absolutely do both. Most of the time cords are long enough to do both, so you can just hold baby while waiting to clamp and cut the cord!
What will happen skin to skin?
Being skin to skin with your baby will start a feedback loop of oxytocin, the "love hormone" that will help you bond and fall in love with your baby. Oxytocin will also help your uterus contract back down to the pre-pregnancy size (over time, not immediately) which can prevent postpartum hemorrhage. After a few minutes of figuring out the world around them, your baby will get hungry! They’ll start rooting around, in search of the breast. The breast crawl is an instinct that babies are born with, where they’ll scoot towards the breast and latch on to eat their first meal. They’ll eat, then usually fall asleep for a long nap.
What if I deliver via cesarean?
You can still have skin to skin in the OR! More and more providers are seeing the benefits of skin to skin in any kind of birth. Ask your provider about it! If you’re not able to be skin to skin, your partner should be able to. The benefits of temperature and blood sugar regulation are still available!
Bottom line, skin to skin is a great way for your baby to adjust to being in the world. It is cost effective, easy to do, and oh so cuddly and sweet. In most cases, there aren't any risks associated with it. Most hospitals have skin to skin as a standard of care, but if yours doesn't you can always talk to your provider to see if that is an option available to you.
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