Skin-to-Skin Contact Benefits
Skin-to-Skin Contact Benefits
If you’ve ever been present for birth in a birth center, you might have noticed how the midwife immediately put the baby belly-down on the mother’s chest. This is called initiating skin-to-skin contact and is best done as soon as possible after birth.
What is Skin-to-Skin Contact?
Skin-to-skin contact is when the baby, after being born, is placed directly onto the mother’s bare chest. The mother and baby may then be covered with a blanket and left that way for a while.
It is often recommended for babies since it helps them adjust to life outside the womb and also encourages mother-baby bonding.
Benefits Of Skin-to-Skin Contact
Skin-to-skin contact is recommended by a number of international wellness organizations such as Unicef thanks to its many benefits!
Some of these benefits include:
- It helps calm the baby’s anxiety after coming into a new environment and helps them transition smoothly
- It helps babies maintain their body temperature by preventing heat loss
- It improves the baby’s heart and lung function
- It prevents low sugar levels immediately after birth
- It encourages the initiation of breastfeeding
- The duration of the baby’s pain is shortened due to skin-to-skin contact
- It has been shown to increase the baby’s oxygen levels
- It improves weight gain in the neonatal period (since babies spend less energy trying to regulate body temperature)
- It helps improve baby’s immunity
- It is known to keep the baby more hydrated
- In the long term, skin-to-skin contact has been shown to have a positive impact on the baby’s brain development
The skin-to-skin contact also has benefits for the mother. These include:
- Helps calm the mother down and regulates their heart rate after labor
- Induces feelings of love and connection with the baby
- Regulates hormone levels for better milk production
- Increases the chances of better outcomes for breastfeeding
Birth Center Stone Oak’s approach to Skin-to-Skin Contact
Birth Center Stone Oak understands the importance of skin-to-skin and encourages it as soon as possible after birth. We encourage skin-to-skin contact not just after the period of labor but also later before or after feeding times so both mother and baby can get the maximum benefits out of it.