Skin to Skin Contact

Skin to skin contact is very important for your baby. As soon as your baby is born, the mother and baby must be close to each other and you must establish skin to skin contact with her. As soon as she is dried, the baby must be undressed and placed close to the mother's skin. The skin to skin contact is also essential in later stages of the baby's growth.

Why Skin to Skin Contact?

Skin to skin contact helps the baby retain a normal body temperature. Keeping your baby close to your skin also helps her in maintaining normal heart rates and breathing rates. Skin to skin contact also helps premature babies who are not under medication to recover sooner. Along with breast feeding, skin to skin contact helps your little one's baby resistance to allergy and other infection. Even after a caesarean delivery, the skin-to-skin contact can be established even as the mother is being stitched up. The eye drops, Vitamin K injection, and checking the baby's weight should not take precedence over skin to skin contact.

Skin to skin contact also helps to enhance the bond between the mother and baby. This keeps your little one warm and cosy soon after she is born. Skin to skin contact gives your little one a secure feeling. Babies with low birth weight may gain an optimum weight because of skin to skin contact. Babies who establish a skin to skin contact with their mothers also tend to cry less and stay warmer.

You can start breastfeeding your baby soon after she is born. Babies that have skin to skin contact with their mothers for an hour immediately after birth are likely to adapt to breast feeding quite fast and for a longer duration. They also latch-on to the mother's breast better. Even if your little one does not latch on in the first few hours after her birth, she should not be deprived of the skin to skin contact with her mother.