Uninterrupted Skin to Skin Contact Between Mother and Baby After Birth

This article discusses the benefits of uninterrupted skin to skin contact between mother and baby after birth. It highlights the impact of skin to skin contact on maternal attachment, neonatal care, and brain development. The article also emphasizes the importance of avoiding separation between mother and baby in the initial stage of birth. The benefits of skin to skin contact for both mother and baby are discussed in detail.

Running Head: Uninterrupted skin to skin contact after birth
Uninterrupted skin to skin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Skin to skin contact is termed as direct contact between mother’s skin and baby. It helps in
comforting the baby or providing proper neonatal care and helping parents to surge the bond
with their baby. It is realistic that the bond between mother and the new born baby depend in
the early period of postpartum. The unavoidable skin to skin contact between mother and
baby is important for both the individuals as it improves physiologic stability and also
increases maternal attachment between both of them after birth (Zwedberg, Blomquist &
Sigerstad, 2015). Skin to skin contact helps in protecting the new born from the side effects
of separation from the mother and for perfect development of the child in the initial stage by
uplifting the brain development. Skin to skin connection also Improves oxygen saturation in
the baby’s body and helps in assisting the growth by reducing the stress level. The skin to
skin contact with baby is proven to reduce the responses of new born from the suffering of
painful stimuli on the other hand it also reduces the chances of depression and physiological
stress of mother in the postpartum period. Which in turn increase feelings and affection of
bonding and connectionbetween the two indivuals (Stevens, et. al, 2014).
Literature Review
According to (Yelland, et. al, 2016), there are several advantages of unavoidable skin to skin
contact between mother and new born baby. Babies are breast feed by their mother in initially
stage which keeps the skin contact between baby and mother. But in some cases mothers are
not able to breastfeed their child due to some reasons. But keeping the baby close to the skin
provides happy and healthy life to both the individual. Skin to skin contact is proven to be a
good start of relationship whichlasts for a longer run.It is concluded that mothers who keep
their new born babies close to their skin after birth have chance of increasing maternal

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behaviour;it shows more confident relation between mother and child. Skin to skin contact
also protects child from negative effects of separation, supports child from brain development
(Parratt & Fahy, 2017). When the baby comes out of the womb, the initial stage of how to
treat the new born is important as it creates the bond with the parents.
In the opinion of (Essa & Ismail, 2015), the consequence of skin to skin contact after the
birth of new born is most vital part of growth. It is the time of building a special relation with
mother and baby and provide non stimulating birthing environment. Early Breastfeeding or
keeping the child close to the body helps in experiencing the natural behaviour pattern and
provide a supporting mothering environment to maintain a secure bond with the child.
Research showed that first few months after birth is a very sensitive period as it is an optimal
time to produce rooting movement, vocal cues or to develop a mutual relationship with the
mother. There are various advantages of keeping the skin in touch continuously between
mother and baby: it sorts the mother’s life by improving the capability to care for her child; it
also reduces the stress of mother and new born by providing a positive long term impact on
attachment behaviours. It also regulates the heartbeat, body temperature and breathing of the
new-born (Cooijmans, et. al, 2017). The uninterrupted touch between the skins with provides
a calms and relaxing sleep to baby. In the perceptive of World Health Organisation (WHO),
the early skin contact is most favourable plus it is optimistic in the situations to avoid danger
and assure standard childbirth. It also prevents hypothermia which in turn enhances maternal
interaction. This helps the mother to stimulate the delivery of the child as well as avoid the
chances of breast cancer. In the early hours connection is a commercial procedure to advance
the worth of care and to achieve child Development Goals by improving the health of new
born as well as mother. According to studies it is known that the babies at the time of birth
are just 1200 g and are more constant metabolically, like the level of blood and amount of
sugar baby needs so that it can breathe better if they are kept in skin to skin contact

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immediately after birth (Brimdyr et. al, 2015). Skin to skin contact between mother and baby
is quite suitable with other methods used to keep the baby healthy. If the baby is sick or
suffering from any respiratory syndrome, the health of baby need not to be compromised but
baby skin to skin contact with the mother immediately after birth can keep the child healthy.
According to (Chiruvolu, et. al, 2017), welcoming of new born baby in the world has many
short term as well as long term consequences. Mothers who hold their new born close to their
skin for a longer duration supports in better brain development and enhance attachment
between mother and child. According to the hospital protocols uninterrupted skin-to-skin
contact support both vaginal and caesarean birth. As when the babies enter the world, the
initial time is very special and need to be taken care. The good and early maternal care help
in shaping the epigenetic programme of child within the brain which in turn supports the
growth of an maturemother by maintain the good maternal care as this feature can be
transmitted to the next generation.The separation of mother and new born baby should be
carefully considered as it could be harmful for both the individuals. The skin to skin contact
of baby supports respiration and oxygenation of new born rises the glucose level and
maintain the optimal temperature by reducing stress of hormones. Skin to skin contact gives
warmth to baby and also help in regulating blood pressure which in turn also decreases the
crying state of baby. Thus, it is concluded that babies after delivery, if kept closer to fathers
have tendency of higher temperature (Francais, 2010).
In the views of (Moore, et. al, 2016), skin to skin contact enhance the attachment between
both the individuals which is necessary for the survival of the new-born baby, it also provides
activators that increase maternal care by giving additional care. Hormones known to
influence attachment behaviours are increased by skin-to-skin contact. It is very important for
new born as oxytocin is one of the hormonesthat have proved to provide relaxation,
increaseattraction and provides maternal care that is necessary to ensure long survival.

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It is proven that mothers who do not keep baby close to their skin in initial period are those
who keep their toddlers in nursery. As new born babies first interact with mother and it is
necessary for the mother to be in touch with a new-born as it helps in provide excessive
medication.It also creates awareness and focuses on strong interaction with mother. Until the
moment the umbilical cord is cut, a mother and her baby are literally a single biological
organism. In the initial months of post birth, mother and baby are considered as a single
psychobiological organism. Mother and new born offspring initially live in a natural state that
needs an addiction to increase the bond.
In general from the practise it is considered safe and healthy by keeping the child and mother
together after birth to ensure unlimited opportunities which are gained by skin-to-skin care
and breastfeeding. It is also known that mothers and babies share a physiologic bond which
means that both need to stay together during the initial period of birth. Spending the time
together helps to improve the outcome of new born baby. Sometimes the separation can be
considered due to some reasons but routine separation between mothers and babies can be
harmful and can also negatively influence healthy lifestyle of both the individuals. By having
skin to skin contact is very beneficial for baby as baby can hear mother’s heartbeat and
breathing, also can smell and feel the skin which is very comforting (Dickson, et. al, 2015). It
also stabilizes babies’ heart rate, breathing rate, sugar and body temperature, which in turn
promotes the bonding with the baby. It decreases the level of stress in mom and reduces the
count of babies cry
There is a fact stated by (Bricker, Johnson & Stom, 2016), baby after birth needs mother the
most and especially skin to skin interaction with the mother. Based on the evidence it is
recommended that for healthy mother and babies breast feeding is the preferable method after
birth. Oxytocin also increases the skin to skin attachment which reduces the stress and
promotes the maternal attachment.

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If the skin to skin care is delayed or disrupted it may somewhere supress the protection of
new born and it may also disturb maternal bonding of the baby. Less bonding between
mother and child is seen due to lower attention during feeding or negative response towards
baby in initial period after birth. Because at the time of birth babies are highly heighted to the
response of mothersdoor and some thermal cues. When the baby is kept close to skin of
mothers body, it helps the new born to fulfil the biological needs needed to activateneuron
protective mechanisms at early stage.Not only uninterrupted skin to skin contact is helpful for
mother as well like when mothers hold their babies close to skin helps in releasing oxytocin
(NIH, 2018). Oxytocin is a hormone that helps in contracting the uterus of mother and also
mothers brain release beta- endorphin, which is released only at the time of skin to skin
contact. Beta endorphin helps mother to respond to new born by reinforcing the pleasure of
her interactions and help her feel calm. Other than that by keeping the baby close to mother’s
skin, also helps mothers to understand baby’s need by the movement.
In the views of (Goodwin. Et. al,2018), it is stated that during skin to skin connection babies
initially cry briefly, after some time enter the stage of relaxation. Initially when they open
their eyes and find themselves close to mother’s body, tend to rest for a little while and
become familiar with the skin and smell. This acquaintance period between baby and
mother’s skin may last for some time, the more time spent closely will enhance their bond. It
is tempting as it is the time which helps baby to attach to the mother. Someone trying to
interrupt the process unwillingly may lead to problem in baby’s well-being as it is the
fundamental part of postnatal care after birth. For these reasons mother and babies link
cannot be overlooked. During initial stage if mother takes drugs can affect the babies’ growth
as well as mother-baby pair (Ecker,et. al, 2015).

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Conclusion
It can be concluded that mother and new born baby need each other after birth as it helps
ingaining unlimited opportunities of skin-to-skin care by mother and breastfeeding. It is
suggested by many health professionals stated that skin to skin contact supports physiologic
need of both mother and baby. It is beneficial for both to have each other after birth as
itimproves the short- and long-term health consequences for mothers and offspring.
Separation of both the individual should be avoided in initial stage of birth as it may cause
some medical complications. It indicates that for safe and healthy growth of child and mother
proper care should be taken after birth.Skin to skin connection also helps the baby adjust to
the new surrounding outside the mother’s womb as this is an important step for supporting
mothers to develop a close, loving and everlasting relationship with baby.

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References
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Newborns' Vital Stabilization: An Evidence-Based Project (Doctoral dissertation).
Brimdyr, K., Cadwell, K., Widström, A. M., Svensson, K., Neumann, M., Hart, E. A., ... &
Phillips, R. (2015). The association between common labor drugs and suckling when
skin‐to‐skin during the first hour after birth. Birth, 42(4), 319-328.
Chiruvolu, A., Miklis, K. K., Stanzo, K. C., Petrey, B., Groves, C. G., McCord, K., ... &
Tolia, V. N. (2017). Effects of Skin-to-Skin Care on Late Preterm and Term Infants
At-Risk for Neonatal Hypoglycemia. Pediatric Quality & Safety, 2(4), e030.
Cooijmans, K. H., Beijers, R., Rovers, A. C., & de Weerth, C. (2017). Effectiveness of skin-
to-skin contact versus care-as-usual in mothers and their full-term infants: study
protocol for a parallel-group randomized controlled trial. BMC pediatrics, 17(1), 154.
Dickson, K. E., Kinney, M. V., Moxon, S. G., Ashton, J., Zaka, N., Simen-Kapeu, A., ... &
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