The importance of skin to skin
by Cordelia Uys, Breastfeeding Counsellor
December 2021
A mother having skin to skin shortly after her baby was born via a caesarean birth.
The human newborn
When our pre-human ancestors started walking on their hind legs, their pelvises became narrower, and this may be why homo sapiens babies are born relatively early, so that their heads are small enough to fit through this narrower passageway. Whatever the reason, when human babies are born, they are less developed, and have a smaller proportion of their adult brain, compared to other primates. Because of this immaturity, newborns need their mother’s body to help them regulate their biological systems, including their heart rate, temperature and breathing. If separated from their mother, neonates tend to ‘shut down’, or conversely, they get very distressed. A mother’s body is her baby’s natural habitat. Scientists refer to a mother and her baby as a dyad, or two in one.
Having spent 9 months in the warm, dark coziness of her womb, with the white noise of her heartbeat and digestive system, being on their mother’s body helps babies acclimatise to the outside world.
What is skin-to-skin?
Skin-to-skin is when a baby lies prone and naked (except for a nappy) on a parent’s, grandparent’s or older sibling’s bare chest. A blanket or towel can be placed on the baby to keep them warm.
Why is skin-to-skin contact with the baby’s mother immediately after birth so important?
There is an abundance of research proving the many benefits to a mother and her baby of having immediate and uninterrupted skin to skin contact for about two hours after birth, whether the baby is born vaginally or via a caesarian.
Fathers or partners can stroke and kiss their baby, but if possible, during this time, the baby should remain on their mother’s body. If both mother and baby are well, there’s nothing that needs to happen in those two hours that can’t wait, or that can’t be done while the baby is on their mother’s chest.
When a newborn baby is in skin to skin contact with their mother, it calms them both, and encourages strong mothering instincts. Mothers will caress their baby and talk to them. Oxytocin, the hormone of love, labour and lactation, will flood through the mother’s body, putting her in a heightened state of arousal, helping enormously with bonding and breastfeeding. In addition, skin to skin allows the baby’s body to be colonised with the mother’s friendly bacteria, helping to protect the baby from infection.
What happens to babies during skin to skin?
It stabilises their body temperature. A mother’s chest has the ability to warm up by 2°C if the baby is too cold, and to cool down by 2°C if the baby is too hot. In fact, it has been shown that when newborn twins are placed in skin to skin contact with their mother, each of her breasts will heat up to a different temperature according to each baby’s needs! This is called thermal synchrony.
It stabilises their heart rate and breathing: the baby’s heart will start to synchronise with their mother’s.
It stabilises their hormone levels, releasing hormones in both mother and baby that promote bonding and breastfeeding.
It stabilises their blood sugars, thereby stimulating their digestion and an interest in feeding.
At birth - the breastcrawl:
When a newborn baby is placed face down on their mother’s abdomen, every one of the baby’s neonatal reflexes enables them to make their way to their mother’s breast. After a short resting period, they will bob their head, root around with their mouth, push with their arms and legs, crawl upwards, and open their mouth. Making this journey and eventually latching on to the breast fires up the neural pathways in the baby’s brain, so at the next feed, they are likely to ‘remember’ how to breastfeed.
There is a critical window of about two hours after birth when babies are alert and primed to make this journey to the breast. After that, they get sleepy, and this is the perfect time for fathers or partners to have their turn doing skin to skin.
Continued skin to skin
It has been observed that when mothers and babies spend most of the first couple of days after birth in skin to skin, babies tend to breastfeed more frequently, and their mother’s mature milk tends to come in sooner. In fact, the recommendation, if possible, is for mothers to keep their babies in their arms for the majority of time in the first couple of weeks.
Skin to skin also helps reduce pain during procedures such as inoculations.
The stabilising and calming effects of skin to skin continue for weeks after a baby is born. In the first 3 months of a baby’s life, and beyond, they will settle much more easily when in contact with their mother’s body. This is the result of 200,000 years of evolutionary development, when babies had a much better chance of surviving and passing on their genes if they protested loudly whenever their parents tried to put them down. We now know that responding to this need for closeness and comfort helps a baby’s brain development and the forming of secure attachment.
Links:
https://icea.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Skin_to_Skin_Contact_PP.pdf
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/806325_2
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijpedi/2014/846486/