This is how I do skin to skin after births (with mother's consent):
When baby is born, I have a warm blanket on mom's belly/chest. I use that warm blanket to wipe off the birth secretions. Then I remove the wet blanket and place baby skin to skin between the mother's breasts. Then I take 1-2 more warm blankets and put them over baby and mom. Baby also gets a knitted hat to conserve heat loss.
Mom keeps baby on her chest as long as she wants then! I do all vital signs, assessments, cord clamping, ID bracelets, while mom has baby on her chest. I also make sure that the ambient room temperature is in the 70's, so neither mom nor baby get chilled.
I can also do baby footprints while baby is skin to skin (although, I can get messy doing it). The only time that a "normal" baby after delivery (no resuscitation needed) needs to be off of mom's chest, is when I do the baby's weight and length. I let the mom tell me when she's ready for baby to be weighed and measured.
Eye drops are done right before we go to postpartum, around 1 to 1 1/2 hrs of age.
This initial and prolonged skin to skin contact keeps the baby warm, blood sugars stable, and helps promote early breastfeeding. You'd be amazed at how many babies go right for the breast within 10-15 minutes!
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27 comments:
Hi. I am 32w3d pregnant today. This is what I want for when my baby is born- immediate skin to skin contact. In your expierence, are most nurses cooperative with this?
shoeaddict17@gmail.com
I've seen footprint thingies that don't get the baby's foot all covered with ink. I guess it's sort of like the old mimeograph machines (yes, I'm old enough to remember those!), with ink on one side of the sheet, and it's clean on the other. Then you make the footprint by pressing the baby's foot on the clean side, with the ink side making the impression on the document. I'm not sure why they're not widespread -- perhaps the cost? perhaps just because it's a change?
-Kathy
I wish you could be my nurse. Hehe.
Shoeaddict - not every nurse is thrilled with the idea of skin to skin contact - but it's your birth, your baby!
Kathy - we're switching to the inkless system soon - I can't wait!
this was interesting...i wish i had know that when i was pregnant
I am thinking of having this as part of my birth plan...just print it off and give it to my care provider and nurse at the hospital along with the "no deelee" for mec info. I am not that obnoxious though, and will likely include a skin to skin preferences line...
Blessings!
Dawn
Now if there was only a way to do this with a c-section birth. :(
I am a huge proponent of skin to skin also. In reality, it makes the nurses recovery easier! Love the pictures!
I love this. I had 3 babies and only had skin-skin with my middle child. It was an incredible experience and I felt so pleased about having that baby. This was my 3 hour 15 minutes in hospital before delivering child.
My other two involved spinal blocks which led to vomiting and severe spinal headaches.
I hold the skin to skin birth close to my heart.
What are the footprints for? We only do them on dead babies for the memory box.
If parents want footprints of their babies, they can do them at home, surely?
I wish more nurses both respected the wishes of mothers to be skin-to-skin with their babies and understood the actual science it. The last birth I attended (as a doula) the mom hardly had a chance to acknowledge her baby before having her whisked away to be cleaned and blanketed. Then after everything calmed down and mom was trying to start breastfeeding she finally unwrapped her daughter (up until then she had only seen her face!) and held her skin-to-skin with lots of warm blankets and the hat and LOVED it for all of five minutes. That's when the nurse came in and reprimanded my client for "trying to give that baby a chill", all but snatched baby back and bundled her up again before insisting that she HAD to go to the nursery for mandatory watching. She was so condescending to this new young mama it made my stomach turn.
Thank you for paying attention to actual physiological facts and being compassionate to the women you care for in this profound moment of their lives.
Yehudit-
Footprints are a nice keepsake but more importantly they are a form of identification. A 2009 document supported by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, AWHONN, NANN, ANN and International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety recommend footprints be taken prior to separation of mother and infant.
Skin to skin--Even if a baby needs a bit of blow-by oxygen, I used to do this on mom's chest. I just used tubing with my hand cupped. I would do everything to keep baby right where baby belongs:))
I love, love, LOVE skin to skin contact for moms and babies! (Did I mention, I love skin to skin contact?!?)
Footprints - they are done as one of the two identification methods in my L&D unit. The second ID method is the baby bracelets. (Lonely midwife explained the reason above my comment here.) I also make extra cards with footprints on them as keepsakes for the families. Plus whatever other items the family would like imprinted with footprints as mementos (t-shirts, keepsake boxes, baskets, baby books, etc).
The first time I had heard of skin-to-skin was when I had my baby in the NICU (she was 9 weeks early), they encouraged kangaroo care, which is something I even continued when she finally came home. With the next baby which was a C-section, I did skin-to-skin as soon as we were reunited in the room even though it wasn't encouraged by the nurse. I thought it was better late than never!
My nurses for the preemie gave us footprints which was something very appreciated.
I used the inkless system previously during clinical, and they are great!
ID bracelets are a form of identification (Do we fingerprint adults in the hospital?). And why would mother and baby be separated in the normal course of events?
Of course, if you have a nursery, then maybe you need footprint ID to ensure that correct baby goes back to correct mum.
Is a repeat footprint routinely taken at any point to check that the correct baby has left with the correct parents? If not, what is the purpose of the footprint?
I also love skin to skin! What's unfortunate, is when I talk with moms about it, a lot of them didn't even realize this was an option, and most of them love the idea! We're currently working on a better system for our c-section moms so there isn't the long wait between delivery and when they're baby is deemed "ready" to come out to her. Right now they end up in the nursery until the nursery nurse says they are ready to come out. We're hoping to keep baby with mom instead.
We don't fingerprint adults because most adults can verbally confirm their identity. Also, they are typically easily identified by those who know/are related to them. This is not true of newborns.
The normal course of events is normal, until it isn't. We don't have a crystal ball to tell us that everything will be totally normal and mom and baby would never be separated.
I had an absolutely glorious 30 minutes with my third daughter at her birth, probably half of that skin-to-skin. I don't think it's any accident she was the easiest to nurse, and to bond with, and perhaps it even had something to do with her easygoing nature as an infant!
So, this is what I don't understand about a footprint taken at birth as ID. Do you then do repeat footprints every time you want to ID the baby?
Taking bloods?
Before drug administration?
Before discharge from hospital?
If not, what is the purpose of this form of ID?
We do skin to skin at C/S at my hospital in Australia. Mum just need to take her arms out of the hospital gown before you start (lay it across her so she doesn;t get cold/) then once the baby is born, quickly dry it with a dry towel then lift mums gown and lay the baby directly across mums breasts with a warm towel over both. Baby can stay there with them getting to know each other while you finish the surgery, and can usually stay there after while you get mum across to her bed and into recovery. Sure helps the first feed in recovery.
I don't work in postpartum/nursery, but I imagine the footprints are so that if something would happen to the bracelet, there is another form of ID. Also, in the event that an unauthorized person would remove the infant from the unit and remove the bracelet, the baby could then be identified. It's a backup procedure.
Kathy- we have those types of "ink" at my hospital! They're on really thin parchment/paper. One side has ink (that you can't see until it comes into contact with paper) and the other side is plain.
In the USA we go to great measures to ensure a baby is safe while at the hospital. In the rare event someone snatches a baby from the hospital, or babies get mixed up (again, RARE) then the footprints are an added bonus. Plus, the moms love to get a copy of their baby's footprints for their baby books. It's really not a big deal.
P.S. Be my nurse, too! LOL! This is exactly what I hope to have happen this birth. Last birth there were nurses swarming my bed. I held my daughter for a few moments before one nurse bustled into the hubbub and said, "Time to wash baby!" and took her to go wash her. At this point I was incredibly nauseated and out of it, so I didn't even protest.
This time I plan to definitely let my needs and wants be known!
Echoing the sentiments of pretty much all the other commenters: where were you when I had my daughter? lol
Check out the research...although it is completely counterintuitive, if baby is skin to skin with Mom, covered by one or two warm blankets, there is no need for the hat...the baby is thought to release pheromes through the fontanelles that enhance the mother's attatchment behaviors. It took me awhile to trust the process, but although we've always been taught that babies lose most of their heat through their head, if they are skin to skin they don't
RedRN
Eyedrops?? What for, we don't do this in the UK?
cervix,
what is the routine for a mom and baby after a c/s in your hospital for contact and bonding with baby?
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