Skin to skin contact — in the golden hours after birth and beyond
Skin to skin contact is not just a ‘nice to do’.
It is also not just for that first ‘golden hour’ after birth, or the first week or weeks. The benefits of skin to skin persist and should be encouraged beyond those first few weeks.
If you haven’t been able to do as much skin to skin with your baby as you would have liked (whether that be because of a belly birth, or time in the NICU, or any other reason), it’s not too late.
The American Academy Pediatrics recommends skin to skin be given as long and as frequently as possible during the first 3 months for a full term and the first 6 months for a premie.
Skin to skin doesn’t need to be lying down (though it’s a wonderful way to ensure rest for you both in those early days and weeks), you or your partner can do it with baby in a carrier provided baby and you have a naked torso.
Skin to skin contact not only assists in promoting the initiation of breast or chest feeding, but has a huge role to play in strengthening the feeding relationship days/weeks/months later. If you are having difficulties breastfeeding (and more particularly are looking to boost your supply), spending a day in bed skin to skin with your baby (an excuse to binge watch a TV show or nap as much as you can) can do wonders for building supply as it gives your baby uninterrupted and unlimited access to feeds. Supply and demand!
The benefits of skin to skin aren’t just for breast or chest feeding parents either. The benefits go well beyond the feeding relationship. Evidence says that skin to skin:
Helps babies transition and stabilise to the outside world by helping them regulate their heart rate, breathing and temperature, stimulates digestion, increase interest in feeding
Helps with colonisation of baby’s microbiome protecting them against infection and build a stronger immune system
Helps babies cry less, stabilise blood sugars
Promotes brain development key to bonding
Reduces pain - reduced responses to painful stimuli (it is for this reason that doing skin to skin while any tests, or bloods are being taken, is highly recommended).
Initiates instinctive caregiving behaviours
Helps release hormones (oxytocin) that relaxes the feeding parent and promotes feeding
Increases parental sensitivity to infant’s finals and increases confidence in that parent
Encourages faster recovery from birth
It’s so simple.
Photograph by the talented Becca Crawford
