Celebrating Skin to Skin

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I wanted to write something about the importance of skin to skin contact for mothers and babies at delivery. As a practicing OB this is something I try to encourage.

I believe that skin to skin contact immediately following delivery should be routinely practiced for healthy mother infant dyads with term deliveries. This helps support the “10 Steps” as it encourages breastfeeding initiation within the first 30 minutes after delivery. Much of the medical technology involved in childbirth helps us recognize when problems occur. It can also help us recognize when mothers and infants are healthy at birth. This should be the expected situation for normal birth.