Last updated on October 6th, 2022

In the moments after your baby is born, “the golden hour” begins.

The hours of discomfort from laboring and birth dissipate and you finally get to hold your newborn baby close, skin-to-skin.

In this post, you will learn details about skin-to-skin and how it benefits both mom and baby.

Summary

Skin-to-Skin Contact (SSC) happens in the first moments between you as a new mom and your sweet newborn baby. Your naked baby goes from your womb to your bare chest. After months of anticipation, you embrace your tiny one for the first time, with smiles and maybe tears, holding them close for as long as you want. By sealing in their warmth with a blanket and breathing in their newness, you can tumble head over heels in love.

SSC benefits for the newborn:

• Regulates their body temperature
• Provides comfort
• Can be done wherever and however you give birth
• “Seeds” the microbiome
• Establishes breastfeeding

SSC benefits for the mother:

• Boosts oxytocin release
• Aids in a healthy birth of the placenta
• Helps with breastfeeding
• Reduces the mother’s risk of developing postpartum depression.

• Postpartum Perfection
• What is Skin-to-Skin?
• Benefits for the Baby
• Benefits for the Mother
• RECAP
• FAQ
• References

Postpartum Perfection

You know in your bed, that exact spot you climb into and drift into dreamland feeling warm, happy and safe? The place in which you are perfectly whole?

Now imagine you are soundly content in your happy place when suddenly someone or something startles you and you frantically jump out of bed. Maybe it’s an alarm, a bright light, or a loud neighbor. Once you determine all is well, you climb back into your perfect bed and get cozy again. You feel that reminder of comfort and can be reassured sleep is safe.

Now think of your baby. They feel exactly like that before labor and birth take place. To them, the womb provides:

• Tranquil deep sleep
• A warm happy place
• Feeling of safety
• The spot where everything feels perfect

But, just like a jolt to get us out of bed, the very moment your little one is born, they emerge into a new place that may feel foreign, unknown and scary.

For the birthing mother, the final moments of labor intensify before meeting her baby. With those remaining last discomforts, she pushes forth this beautiful life she held inside her belly for all those months. The pain feels almost immediately temporary as the all-consuming desire to “receive the prize” overwhelms her.

Labor is over, but the adjustments have just begun for everyone. For now, more than anything, embrace your baby in this magnificent moment.

What is Skin-to-Skin?

Skin-to-Skin Contact (SSC) is the most significant thing you can do immediately after your baby is born. After leaving the comfort of your womb, your baby needs to be close to you. You also need to be close to your baby. Isn’t that magical? Your little one will want to snuggle close, smell you and feel your warmth. (Source: NIH)

Newborns need to regulate their body temperature and be reminded outside of the womb that they are safe. Their senses are what helps them recognize you. After some time, they will want to eat. Your newborn baby may even crawl to the breast on its own without being placed there. What a unique and innate ability a newborn possesses!

Skin-to-Skin has SO many benefits (especially the first hour) for both baby and mom! Let’s look at what those are.

Benefits for the Baby

1. Body Temperature Regulation

Your newborn will be able to regulate their body temperature simply by being on your chest, their skin to your skin. If your newborn lays on anyone else other than mom, they could be at risk for overheating.

Due to the dramatic changes in postpartum hormone levels after birth, the mother’s body can regulate the exact temperature needs for her baby, and likewise, that tiny baby aids in leveling out their mother’s rapidly fluctuating hormones.

I was fascinated by this phenomenon while reading the book, “Optimal Care in Childbirth.” The authors make mention of studies done in which mothers who gave birth to multiples were able to regulate their newborn babies’ body temperature. In order to accommodate two or more babies on two different sides of her body, they simply placed the babies in direct skin-to-skin contact to the mother’s breasts! Amazing!

If a baby does not have Skin-to-Skin after birth, their risk of hypothermia increases. They have a biological need for immediate warmth after birth. Babies are safest if they have the opportunity to bond with their mother for at least one hour after birth. This is the ideal standard practice.

Routine newborn care can wait!

Things that are not necessary right away are:

• Weight and measurements of your baby
• APGAR Testing
• Newborn screenings
• Vaccines
• Dressing your baby

What is the APGAR Score?

What is prioritized?

• Mother and newborn bonding
• Regulating your baby’s body temperature
• Letting them enjoy their first meal

Mom after all does smell familiar and it’s easy for baby to feel calm right on her chest. With the exception of a newborn or maternal emergency, everything else can wait! (Source: NIH)

2. Comfort

Skin-to-Skin allows for baby to adjust to life outside the womb seamlessly. They can ease into their new environment, all the while being wholly comforted. The route they travel from womb to chest, the unfamiliar voices, lighting and smells, and even pain management the birthing mother receives, can all impact a newborn and lead to sensory overload.

When skin to skin happens immediately:

• Baby cries less because they experience less distress.
• They can find mama milk on their own.
• They are calm, allowing them to recognize your scent and voice.

Any newborn procedures medical staff deems necessary after birth can be done while you are holding your baby. (Source: Giving Birth with Confidence, Chapter 12)

Babies who are separated from their mother’s right after birth:

• Cry more often
• Feel overwhelmed and need to be calmed down
• Potentially experience negative impacts on breastfeeding

3. No Limitations

Skin to skin can occur anywhere.

Where?

• Home birth
• Birth center
• Hospital
• O.R. after a cesarean

Skin-to-skin remains the most immediate priority. Many hospitals are agreeable and able to accommodate your skin-to-skin preferences, even if you give birth via cesarean, provided you and your baby are healthy. (Source: NIH)

4. “Seeding” the Baby’s Microbiome

There is remarkable research to prove that Skin-to-Skin aids in “seeding” or populating the newborns microbiome.

We all have a microbiome.

Our microbiome consists of trillions of microorganisms (also called microbiota or microbes) of thousands of different species. These include not only bacteria, but fungi, parasites, and viruses.

Harvard School of Public Health

Simply put, our gut microbiome contains good bacteria that keep us healthy and our bodies functioning well. Our microbiome is established at birth and Skin-to-Skin helps populate our newborn guts to keep us healthy, long term.

The research:

• Regardless of if a baby is born vaginally or through cesarean, SSC boosts a newborn’s microbiome.
  • “The microbiota that an infant begins to acquire depends strongly on mode of delivery. Twenty minutes after birth, the microbiota of vaginally delivered infants resembles the microbiota of their mother’s vagina, while infants delivered via Cesarean section harbor microbial communities typically found on human skin.” (Source: NIH)
• “Seeding” lowers the risk of the infant getting sick.
  • “Seeding” allows for exposure to the mother’s normal bacteria during a vaginal birth and then skin-to-skin contact becomes the trigger for the development of the baby’s own immune system and this ultimately lowers the risk of the baby getting sick.” (Source: Giving Birth with Confidence)

SSC as well as vaginal birth and breastfeeding, help to “seed” the baby’s microbiome with long term positive effects for the baby. (Source: The Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing)

5. Breastfeeding

There is so much to say about the benefits of breastfeeding, but Skin-to-Skin positively impacts the establishment of the breastfeeding relationship between a mother and her new baby.

After your baby is born and feeling comforted by the warmth of your embrace, they will feel empowered to find your breast independently in order to have their first meal.

Many babies will instinctively crawl to the breast, latch on, and start nursing all by themselves.

Giving Birth with Confidence

Your baby is hardwired to breastfeed. “Hardwiring” is a term that neuroscientists use to refer to reflexes and instincts that are built in to your and your baby’s bodies and brains.

This means that right after birth, SSC provides the right environment to initiate breastfeeding.

How does this happen?

• Your baby instinctively knows how to move to their food source. Finding it is essential for survival.
• By your baby being on their tummy, breastfeeding happens naturally.
• After your baby latches and feeds the first time, biochemical reactions in their body motives your baby to again self-attach.

(Source: Breastfeeding Made Simple)

Skin-to-Skin immediately after birth for the first hour or two is crucial for helping to establish that initial connection because biologically, your baby is anticipating it. I want to be clear that SSC doesn’t need to end after the first “golden hour” after birth, SSC can be done at any time while your baby is any age to calm, comfort and connect with them.

Please Note:
If you are not planning on breastfeeding or you can’t for some reason, please don’t let that be a reason to avoid Skin-to-Skin. There are many other benefits.

Now let’s look at how SSC after birth impacts the birthing mother positively.

Benefits for the Mother

1. Oxytocin

After the birth of your baby, your body releases a hormone called oxytocin, also called “the love hormone.” This hormone is very important as it communicates to your uterus, telling it to contract in order to control postpartum hemorrhaging (bleeding).

It’s important to note what happens after your baby is born. Because your body has gone through significant physical exertion due to the processes of childbirth, you will have postpartum bleeding.

Initially, it can be very heavy and it’s vital for it to be regulated so blood loss isn’t life threatening. In the days after birth, postpartum bleeding will continue and can be similar to your menstrual cycle, initially heavier and eventually stopping. Postpartum bleeding continues for several weeks, for some women several months, depending on your body.

Your immediate postpartum hemorrhaging needs to be controlled so you don’t end up with an unsafe amount of blood loss.

The physiological process that takes place when you hold your baby skin to skin:

• Your baby lays on your chest.
• Oxytocin floods your body.
• You respond with feelings of love, embracing your baby.
• Your brain continues to release and regulate oxytocin.
• It controls uterine contractions to regulate postpartum bleeding.
• It also stimulates breastfeeding.
• Your baby senses their desire to eat.
• Baby’s first feeding at the breast takes place.
• Bonding is increased between mother and baby.

This mutual cycle is beautiful. It biologically couldn’t be any more perfect.

(Sources: Eurofins / Stanford Children’s Health)

2. Placental Birth

After your baby is born, your placenta will need to also be born. It may sound weird and you may think, “Wait, so I’m not done?!”

Thankfully:

• Your placenta does not contain any bones.
• It essentially slips right out.
• Not immediate, but likely to come out in the first 30 mins after your baby is born.
• Breastfeeding releases oxytocin, speeding up the birth of your placenta safely.

(Source: National Childbirth Trust)

A study conducted in 2010 found that during the third stage of labor, the birth of the placenta, occurred more quickly in mothers who had exclusively enjoyed Skin-to-Skin with their newborns than those who did not.

The study goes on to explain that when the infant is on the mother’s chest, their tiny knees and legs “press into her abdomen in a massaging manner inducing uterine contractions, reducing the risk of postpartum hemorrhage.” Those mothers also had reduced bleeding and a “more rapid delivery of the placenta.”

There is no reason for your provider to forcefully remove your placenta because they are “tired of waiting.” Nurse staff may press on the top of your uterus with annoying regularity to expedite this process. You can simply request a little more time for your body and baby to aid in your placentas birth. If your placenta hasn’t been expelled by roughly an hour after birth, your provider may need to assist in the removal so you do not end up with a retained placenta. (Source: NIH)

3. Breastfeeding

Initiating breastfeeding can be a real struggle for some new mothers. When a mother is confident in her ability to feed her baby, breastfeeding flows. Skin-to-Skin as mentioned above, can help your baby find their way to the breast and initiate feeding. Not only does this release oxytocin, but it also triggers your brain to produce and “let-down” your milk flow.

(Source: La Leche League)

This positive process:

• Increases confidence in the new mother
• Trains the body to know what to expect

When a newborn baby is born and taken elsewhere, breastfeeding can’t happen, even if it’s with dad. Handing the newborn to anyone else can decrease their desire to eat. Put baby with mom and comfort overwhelms the both of them. The newborn will feel comforted and be more willing to attempt their first meal.

As we have seen, the mother needs her baby to breastfeed so she can feel at ease from the birth experience and relax. The natural flow of hormones helps her relax and relaxing increases the milk she is producing. Both mother and baby win.  

4. Decreased Risk for Postpartum Depression (PPD)

It is VITAL for a new mom to feel confident after birth. Postpartum depression is very real and very detrimental to a new mother’s mental health.

Postpartum depression impacts one in seven mothers after the baby is born. (Source: NIH)

PPD can be brought on by:

• A negative birth experience.
  • Defining a negative birth experience can be tricky as some women are not aware their birth experience fell into that category until many months have passed.
• Previous depression prior to conception, pregnancy and birth.
• Infant prematurity or diagnosed disability.

What helps reduce PPD?

• Skin-to-Skin
  • Helps a mother interact more positively with her baby.
  • Establishes a connection with a mother and her baby. She is able to respond better to her baby’s cues and be more intentional about holding her baby close. Holding your baby, especially with SSC can release those love hormones at the right time and helps lift you out of the fog in moments of PPD. (Source: Breastfeeding Made Simple)
• Breastfeeding
  • Breastfeeding significantly lowers your risk of depression.
  • There have been many studies that conclude that breastfeeding lowers stress levels and protects the breastfeeding mother. (Source: Breastfeeding Made Simple)
  • Breastfeeding positively impacts a mother’s sleep. A rested mother’s PPD can be lowered when she is sleeping well.

Baby Friendly?
A baby friendly hospital means that SSC is a top priority. Be sure to indicate with your provider at the time of birth that your wishes are for immediate SSC. Place this also on your birth plan so everyone knows your preferences.

Check out the baby friendly website, Baby-Friendly USA, to see if your hospital is on the list. If they are not, chat with your provider and ask them what their policy is on SSC after birth? If they are not in alignment with your preferences, consider a provider who supports your wishes.

RECAP

Skin-to-Skin Contact:

• Has proven benefits for both baby and mom.
• Is simply done by placing your naked newborn baby on your bare chest after birth.

• Regulates your newborn’s body temperature perfectly as they biologically have the need to be warm.
• Helps comfort your baby after their transition to the world outside of the womb.
• Minimizes the risk of newborn distress thanks to your familiar voice and scent.
• Reduces stress in both the mother and the newborn.

• Establishes the relationship between a mother and her newborn by increasing oxytocin, creating immediate mutual bonding.
• Dramatically reduces a mother’s risk for developing postpartum depression.

• “Seeds” a newborn’s microbiome.
• Populates baby’s gut with healthy bacteria, reducing the risk for illness.

• Creates the perfect empowering environment for your newborn to find their way to the breast and begin feeding themselves.
• Establishes breastfeeding supply in the mother as oxytocin levels trigger breast milk “let down.”
• Increases confidence in a mother’s ability to breastfeed long-term.

• Floods the mother with oxytocin which helps control levels of postpartum hemorrhaging.
• Prevents dangerous postpartum bleeding.
• Allows the newborn to massage the mother’s uterus with their tiny feet to help her uterus contract, aiding in the placental birth.

• Can take place regardless of where you gave birth, even in the OR.
• Allows for newborn procedures to be delayed or done while you hold your baby.

• Can be reestablished even if you and your baby were separated right after birth.
• Can continue long after you leave your birth space.
• Positively continues to impact both mom and baby in the young years of their relationship.
• Benefits baby in the days ahead when they are sick, fussy or during sessions at the breast.

FAQ

References

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3979156/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6949952/
• https://www.amazon.com/Optimal-Care-Childbirth-Physiologic-Approach/dp/1598491326
• https://www.hopkinsallchildrens.org/Patients-Families/Health-Library/HealthDocNew/What-Is-the-Apgar-Score
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6048813/
• https://www.lamaze.org/giving-birth-book
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5610826/
• https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/microbiome/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3426293/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21540692/
• https://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding-Made-Simple-Natural-Nursing/dp/1572248610
• https://www.ntd-eurofins.com/oxytocin-affects-mom-baby-bond/
• https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/content-public/pdf/magazine/give-em-some-skin.pdf
• https://www.nct.org.uk/labour-birth/your-guide-labour/third-stage-labour-delivering-placenta-and-cord-clamping
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3979156/
• https://americanpregnancy.org/healthy-pregnancy/labor-and-birth/retained-placenta/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6789409/
• https://www.llli.org/breastfeeding-info/skin-skin-care/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519070/
• https://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/about/

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