kateandlisaSkin-to-skin care (kangaroo care) is a natural process that involves placing a naked newborn on their parent’s bare chest and covering the infant with a blanket to keep them dry and warm.
Ideally skin-to-skin care starts immediately, or shortly, after birth with the baby remaining on the parent’s chest until at least the end of the first nursing session. Skin-to-skin can start at different times. Research says there are three main types of early skin-to-skin care for healthy term infants:
- Birth or immediate skin-to-skin care starts during the first minute after birth
- Very early skin-to-skin care beings within 30-40 minutes post-birth
- Early skin-to-skin is any skin-to-skin time that takes place during the first 24 hours
Skin-to-skin after a Cesarean has many benefits for parents and babies. However parents recovering from a Cesarean are often separated. In order to do skin-to-skin care the parents and newborns need to be together. Often now, they will place the newborn on the mom’s chest following surgery so they can be together.
Skin-to-Skin Contact and Nursing Instincts
After being placed on the birthing parent’s abdomen, babies (when undisturbed) move through nine distinct phases that include:
- The birth cry
- Relaxation
- Awakening
- Activity
- Resting
- Crawling up to the chest
- Familiarization with the nipple
- Suckling
- Sleep
How Does Having a Cesarean Birth Impact Skin-to-Skin Care?
Many hospitals the routine care after a Cesarean is for the baby to be taken to a 
warmer in the operating room, where they are examined, cleaned, weighed, measured, clothed and swaddled before being shown briefly to the parents. Generally the baby is taken to a nursery for further assessment.
Research shows that the reasons for this is so the hospital can provide routine care – not because the babies need any kind of special care. You can request for this not to happen if you end up needing a Cesarean birth. One of the main perceived barriers for providing skin-to-skin care after a Cesarean is because hypothermia in babies is more common after a Cesarean because of the low temperature in the operating room.
However, research has shown that babies that undergo skin-to-skin care for 30 to 50 minutes after a Cesarean are not at higher risk for hypothermia compared to those that are kept in a warmer.
What Are the Benefits of Skin-to-Skin?
The benefits of early skin-to-skin care include:
For Birthing Parents:
- Longer duration of breastfeeding
- More likely to exclusively breastfeed
- Less chest engorgement/pain at three days
- Less anxiety three days after birth
- Higher satisfaction
For Babies:
- More effective suckling during the initial breastfeeding session
- Less crying – babies who receive skin-to-skin care were 12 times less likely to cry during the observation period
- Heart rate, breathing and oxygen levels were more likely to remain stable
- A beneficial increase in blood sugar
- Skin-to-skin care can help a sick or premature newborn stabilize through reducing stress, using the parent’s body to provide consistent warmth, comfort and nourishment
- Skin-to-skin care can greatly improve the birth experience
The World Health Organization recommends that all newborns receive skin-to-skin care, including low-birth weight and premature babies. Skin-to-skin should begin immediately after birth and continue uninterrupted for at least one hour or until the first feeding session for birthing parents who are breastfeeding.
