How can we share the benefits of skin-to-skin contact with new moms?
This is a topic I feel very strongly about. It is very important, regardless of a woman’s birth preferences or other interventions. I have blogged about it and shared it with many women, but I can admit that my reach is limited.
So I was very pleased to notice that recently . . . one of our local hospital/birth centers (Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, KS) started providing these handouts in the room of EVERY laboring woman.
I am a fan.
I like that they are being shared with EVERY laboring woman (and every staff member).
I hope that each of you are giving birth in an environment that embraces the practice of immediate skin-to-skin contact for newborns. If you are not, I invite you to consider whether changing to a more baby-friendly birth place is possible for you. Regardless, I hope that this information (and they fact that some institutions are embracing this evidence-based concept) will help build your confidence to lovingly REQUIRE this as part of your birth experience – even if it’s contrary to the policies of your birth place.
You can be agents of change through your choices.
What about skin-to-skin following cesarean birth?
I love the opportunities the internet gives us to share this type of information. I recently reposted an article about (the revolutionary practice of) immediate skin-to-skin contact following cesarean sections and was surprised, yet thrilled to see a comment from a doula in Denver reporting that this is now hospital policy in one of their local hospitals. Thanks so much Ann!!!
Just knowing what’s going on elsewhere can help us to start a dialogue about these important topics. Policies, routines, and procedures change, and if we are confident and proactive, we can demand best-practices for ourselves, even when our birth place hasn’t caught up with research yet.
