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SKIN TO SKIN CARE LACTATION CONSULTANT By Dr. Joanna Strybosch
Skin to skin care (also known as “kangaroo care”) refers to the practice where a newborn baby is laid directly on its mother’s bare chest immediately after birth, both of them covered in a warm blanket, and left uninterrupted for at least an hour or more, or until after the first feed. If the mother is unable to provide skin to skin care, due to labour or birth complications, then Dad can step in. This special time has been referred to as “the sacred hour”. The manner in which a new baby is welcomed into the world during the first hours can have significant long and short term consequences. The benefits of skin to skin care are enormously important and can be noticed within minutes of baby being placed naked on mum’s chest. Baby relaxes, body temperature stabilises, breathing and heart rate normalises. Baby is as close as possible to being back in the warmth and security of the womb. Throughout pregnancy, a baby is completely reliant on mum for warmth, food, protection and oxygen. But following labour, this nurturing and protective environment is rapidly altered. Putting baby immediately in skin-toskin contact with mum has been shown in study after study to have profound benefits for both mother and baby. These benefits may even extend for years, with some studies reporting improved outcomes for mother and child up to 10 years following birth. What are the Benefits? • Improvement in heart and lung function When babies are born they must make a dramatic transition to breathing for the very first time. Skin to skin contact has been shown to help a baby adapt to this outsideworld breathing more quickly, with both respiratory rate and heart rate normalising sooner after birth. This is true for both premature and full-term babies. • Stabilization of body temperature Again, when babies are born, they experience a sudden change in temperature from the internal environment of the mother to the outside world. They do not have
the ability to regulate their own temperature like adults do. Being in skin to skin contact with mum (or dad) has been shown to stabilise a babies’ temperature better than an artificial heat source. • Regulation of blood sugar Babies need energy to stay warm. This energy comes in the form of glucose which babies receive from their mothers’ milk. Separated babies have a lower body and skin temperature, startle more and cry more. In contrast, babies placed skin to skin have more stable skin temperature, are calmer and cry less, thus preserving their high blood glucose levels. • Initiation of breastfeeding Being in close contact facilitates breastfeeding. All newborn babies have the ability, when placed on their mother’s tummy, to find their mothers breast and decide when they are ready for their first breastfeed. Babies have many reflexes present at birth that help them to awaken, “crawl” up to their mother’s breast, turn their head, locate the nipple, open their mouth and latch, and then to suck and swallow. Sleep then follows. Medical complications aside, mums and babies just need to be given the uninterrupted time and space to allow this programmed response of self-regulation to naturally occur. Studies have shown that 3-day old infants with low self-regulation, are at risk for poorer social and cognitive development as well as regulatory disorders.
also through skin to skin contact with the mother after birth. Separating a baby from their mother at birth causes stress. Skin to skin contact has been shown to calm a baby quicker and studies have confirmed that babies who are kept in contact with their mothers’ experience less physiological stress in their autonomic nervous system. • Relief from pain Similarly, studies have shown babies experience less pain and better pain relief when held skin to skin. The longer the duration of the skin to skin contact, the better the relief. • Improved mother-child bonding and communication During skin to skin contact time with her newborn, a mother begins to learn about her baby’s behaviour – signs of hunger, signs of fullness, signs of discomfort and so on. Being together in this intimate way facilitates touch and stimulation of the senses. Mother and baby can begin to get to know each other. Close contact after birth has been described as a need, not an option. Babies need to be cuddled and kept close to their mothers in the first hours, days and weeks of life.
Dr. Joanna Strybosch Osteopath B.App.Sc(Clin.Sc)/B.Osteo.Sc/Grad Dip Paeds
Lactation Consultant 9876 3011 https://www.childrensosteopathiccentre.com/
• Transfer of good bacteria Babies need to be exposed to good bacteria to colonise their gut. This occurs during a vaginal delivery, but JUNE 2020 | FIND MAROONDAH
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