Skin-to-skin – also known as ‘kangaroo care’ – can help parents bond with their newborn baby and support better physical and developmental outcomes for the baby. The importance of skin-to-skin contact after birth (and beyond) is backed by science and has numerous benefits for both infants and their parents.
On this week’s blog we are going to explore some of those benefits.
Calms and relaxes
Skin-to-skin can immediately help to calm and relax both mother and baby following the birth.
Immediate Bonding
The tactile sensation of a baby’s warm, soft skin against your own triggers a surge of hormones, including oxytocin, often referred to as the “love hormone.” Oxytocin promotes feelings of love, trust, and connection which helps create a strong bond between parents and baby right from the beginning.
Regulation of Body Temperature
Newborns are highly sensitive to changes in temperature, and skin-to-skin contact helps regulate their body temperature effectively. Baby’s body responds to the warmth of their parent’s skin by stabilising their own temperature.
Regulates baby’s heart rate and breathing
Skin-to-skin contact has been shown to have a positive impact on a baby’s heart and respiratory rates. Babies who experience this close contact adapt more quickly to life outside the womb.
Promotes Breastfeeding Success
The close proximity to the mother’s breast triggers the baby’s natural instinct to nurse and releases hormones from mum to enable breastfeeding. This early breastfeeding initiation can lead to long-term breastfeeding success and all the associated health benefits for both mum and baby.
Stress Reduction
For mothers, skin-to-skin contact with her newborn can significantly reduce stress levels following the birth. The physical touch and the release of hormones like oxytocin help mothers relax and begin the recovery process.
Friendly Bacteria Exposure
Skin-to-skin contact enables colonisation of the baby’s skin with the mother’s friendly bacteria which provides protection against infection.
Benefits for premature babies
Skin-to-skin contact also provides benefits for babies in the neonatal unit, in that it:
- improves oxygen saturation
- reduces cortisol (stress) levels, particularly following painful procedures
- encourages pre-feeding behaviour
- assists with growth
- may reduce hospital stay
- improves milk volume if the mother expresses following a period of skin-to-skin contact, with the expressed milk containing the most up-to-date antibodies.
Not just for mums
Skin-to-skin is not just for mum and baby. Studies have shown that when dads spend time skin-to-skin with their newborns it can trigger an increase in the hormone dopamine, which is responsible for many things including pleasure.
A rise in dopamine plus the release of oxytocin means dad’s brain creates a positive association with close interaction with baby so it appears that skin-to-skin with dads can help their natural parenting instincts to kick in.
Did you have skin-to-skin contact after your baby was born?