When a baby comes into the world all he needs is his mother, your father, your grandparents, your uncles and many, many people will want to know and love you. But the reality is, that a newborn the only person he needs during those moments is his mother. Skin to skin is a legendary practice, which unfortunately had been lost with the mechanization of childbirth, the use of instruments and changes at the time of giving birth.
Fortunately, in recent years natural childbirth has recovered, using less and less surgical instruments and medication in cases that are often unnecessary. We are facing a wave of what is known as a respected delivery, where the nature of birth is respected, the times that the mother's body marks and the baby itself, which is the one that marks the time of its birth.
Of course, always talking about the cases in which the labor happens naturally, letting nature take its course is the smart thing to do. Skin-to-skin is one of those practices that had been lost due to the new birth processes. However, thanks to the discoveries regarding the numerous benefits that skin-to-skin brings to the baby, in more and more deliveries this practice has been recovered.
What is skin to skin
The skin-to-skin junction simply consists of placing the baby on the mother's abdomen for at least two hours after birth. Human nature itself determines that this is the best place for the newborn, the chest of a woman in labor has a higher temperature, perfect for the baby to stabilize its own body temperature without the need for specific lamps.
This is just one of the many skin-to-skin benefits, but you also have many more like the following:
- Skin to skin helps establish satisfactory breastfeeding. The human being is pure instinct, the newborn is capable of crawling through its mother's womb until it reaches her breast. The baby recognizes the smell of its mother, so it will seek to feed and can receive colostrum. In addition, the kicks that the baby produces on the mother's womb, cause the uterus to contract and through these contractions the risk of bleeding is reduced.
- The warmth of the mother will help the newborn regulates both his body temperature, like your heart rate and improve your breathing rate.
- In addition, skin to skin helps the newborn to make contact with the environment that surrounds him in a more natural way, helping to relax your stress and improve birth anxiety.
- The affective bond between the newborn and the mother is establishedDuring the two hours after birth, the baby goes through the sensitive period. The little one lives those first moments of his life under a state of alert, where his senses are heightened. Throughout this period, the baby looks for its mother, is able to find her gaze, even to move its head, contact with the mother helps to the baby is insurance. At this point the union between mother and child begins.
Practicing skin-to-skin, also known as the kangaroo method, has great physical and emotional benefits for the baby and for the new mother. In fact this practice is recommended by the World Health Organization, and more and more specialists are promoting this method after delivery. In fact, if the delivery is not vaginal and the mother requires surgical intervention, as in the case of a caesarean section, it is recommended that skin-to-skin be performed with the father.
When a person becomes a mother or father, the instinct of protection is born naturally towards that creature. And that little person, at the moment of birth, only recognizes the smell, the heartbeat and the voice of his mother.