Keep Babies and Mamas Together After Birth

I was digging around the American Academy of Pediatrics web site today, and found this information on their policy statement on Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk:

• Healthy infants should be placed and remain in direct skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately after delivery until the first feeding is accomplished.
• The alert, healthy newborn infant is capable of latching on to a breast without specific assistance within the first hour after birth.
• Dry the infant, assign Apgar scores, and perform the initial physical assessment while the infant is with the mother. The mother is an optimal heat source for the infant.
• Delay weighing, measuring, bathing, needle-sticks, and eye prophylaxis until after the first feeding is completed.
• Infants affected by maternal medications may require assistance for effective latch-on.
• Except under unusual circumstances, the newborn infant should remain with the mother throughout the recovery period.

In other words, the AAP confirms that unless it is medically necessary, there is no reason to separate mom and baby after birth.

Most new moms in my neck of the woods (and probably most other regions of the country) have to fight for the magical first moments following birth. That is assuming they even know to ask for the option of quiet, skin-to-skin time. In most common, medically-managed births, baby warmers are tucked away in the corner of the labor room, and baby nurses are called in during the pushing stage of labor. The mother, if she’s lucky, gets a brief few moments to see and touch her new child before a nurse takes the baby to the warmer for cleaning, initial assessments and swaddling. The warmer may only be a couple of feet from the her, but it might as well be a couple of miles because she cannot hold, and may not even be able to see, her baby. Then, after a few more minutes to bond, the baby is often taken to the nursery for more routines. This can take up to several hours, which can interfere with maternal bonding and breastfeeding success.

Learn more about the benefits of keeping mama and baby together with Lamaze’s Care Practice #6: No Separation of Mother and Baby After Birth with Unlimited Opportunities for Breastfeeding.