Many amazing changes take place in the new mother and her baby during the Golden Hour after birth. Natures hormones which worked overtime during labor and childbirth have initiated a sequence of events, both physical and emotional in the mother which stimulates her brain chemistry to increase her desire for nurturing her baby.
It is during this Golden Hour that we as care providers strive to maximize the bonding experience between mother and baby. If mother and baby are healthy, as is the case in 99% of the cases at our Natural Birthing Center, The Sanctum, we defer conventional procedures that may interfere with bonding during the first hour. Many hospitals still follow age old practices which focus purely on the medical side of a newborn’s health. When a baby is born the doctor hands him to nurse or pediatrician who takes the baby to a warming table, examines him, gives him a Vitamin K shot, and wiping the baby with oil, and then swaddles the baby to hand him over to the proud parents.
In fact many public health institutions such as The World Health Organization recommend that:
- Healthy newborns should be placed in “skin-to-skin” contact with the mother until the first round of breastfeeding is established
- The medical caregiver, whether a midwife or a nurse should conduct the first physical assessment of the baby while it is on the mother’s chest
- Conventional procedures such as weighing, measuring, bathing, injections or blood test should wait until after the first feeding
- Baby and mother should remain together throughout the recovery period
These recommendations have also been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP).
But what is the reason these recommendations are so important? Research shows that skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, as well as suckling at the breast releases Oxytocin and similar mothering hormones which stimulate the mothering instinct in new mothers. These hormones have also been found to cause the uterus to contract after childbirth, shrink and to stop bleeding. In addition, the first hour of skin-to-skin contact stabilizes the baby’s heart rhythm body temperature and breathing.
But what if you have had a cesarean operation or your baby had some emergency situation and had to be prematurely born? Research has shown that the above recommendations are also very much valid in these situations. Even in case of an emergency Ceasarean, babies are usually healthy. And, within the first few minutes the baby is looking around, and putting her fist into his mouth, looking for food! Since the baby has not been wiped, the familiar smell of the amniotic fluid that she drank in utero, helps guide her to her mother’s breast and find nourishment. The wonder of nature is that, tiny glands under the mother’s breast also secrete a hormone that smells similar to amniotic fluid, thus helping the baby to find the breast, and the first mother-baby bonding is thus established. At Healthy Mother Birthing Center, we put the baby to the mother’s chest, skin-to-skin, right in the OT. In most cases, the baby is nursing within the first ten to fifteen minutes post-birth. If it is not possible to breastfeed your baby immediately because he had to be at a separate location you can still ask that you have skin to skin contact with your baby for at least a few minutes every few hours. You can also ask that your baby be fed a few drops of breast milk that you can express. It is a fact that babies who have had an emergency situation and were born prematurely benefit from “Kangaroo Care”, which can be vital to their survival.
It is therefore important for parents to become informed and knowledgeable so that they can tell their medical staff what they (and their baby) needs. You should discuss these points with your doctor and hospital staff and let them know of your preferences. It becomes easier to convince hospital staff (who may resist these wishes) if you are armed with facts and knowledge about what is best for you and your baby during the Golden Hour of Birth.
If you are a new mother or an expectant mother and want to learn about correct techniques of breastfeeding join the Healthy Mother Breastfeeding Support Network here