the “why” behind skin on skin

some of the best medicine we can give both ourselves and our babies is rather simple — it is time spent skin on skin.

this is especially important just after birth in what some may refer to as the “golden hour”.

read on to learn about the benefits of claiming this time in the early moments with your brand new babe.

if left undisturbed in the hours after birth, all babies will follow transition through some or all of these 9 steps:

1. birth cry
2. relaxation
3. awakening
4. activity
5. rest
6. crawling
7. familiarization
8. suckling
9. sleeping

allowing our babies to transition through some or all of these 9 steps (you do not have to do *a thing* and these steps are innately driven in our babes) may increase breastfeeding initiation.

the navigation of these steps allows for baby to:
1. become calmer and more regulated
2. feel comforted
3. adapt with greater ease to temperature of the new environment, regulating from mom’s body heat
become familiar with the odor of mother’s milk, facilitating a more gentle adaptation to the early postnatal environment
4. increase oxytocin release for both mom and baby, allowing for deeper bonding

these early moments allow for as gentle of a transition to life as possible.

did you do skin on skin in the first hours with your baby?