Skin to skin after birth

[SpringCrane]

Thanks for all the replies, ladies! It's great hearing about the different experiences you have all had. I think I'll ask for them to plop him right on me after he's out. I was already kind of excited about the birth, but I've spent half the day reading through my hypnobirthing book, and now I can hardly wait to experience his arrival!

 

[vic161209]

good luck glad your excited. i think if u are aware of what it might b like we can cope better and not b shocked at the time just because no one mentioned it id like to add that skin to skin (weather immediately after, or as soon as medically ok) regulates babys heart rate,breathing and temperature helping to calm baby into the world in a natural gently way. also the close contact with your skin helps colonise your baby with bacteria naturally found on your skin helping your babys immunity right after birth. gives baby the oportunity to feed from your breast if u both wish. dont worry about your baby been too cold- between your breasts is a warm area acting as a natural incubator. skin to skin also helps your oxytocin levels rise giving u that happy in love feeling/great for bonding- reduces postnatal depression and helps milk let down and production. the benefits of skin to skin arent just immediately after birth but weeks/months after baby is born. hope u get the birth your hoping for, i might b 4mths away but i cant wait either lol

 

[babyface15]

Babies in the UK dont get eye drops, as far as im aware its incase baby is exposed to STIs during delivery which we are tested for in pregnancy

So are we in Canada??? we're tested for STI's as well.......it's not really eye drops...it looks like vaseline over the babies eyes....I guess it's a canadian thing? hahahhaa....I'll have to google and see what this is?

i'm in Canada too. I was able to forgo the eye goo by having another late PG chlamydia test! I heard the eye goo makes it difficult for the baby to see you and enjoy those first few moments looking into each others eyes

 

[xdxxtx]

The moment my son was born, my midwife placed him right down on my stomach while my partner cut the cord, Then, she wiped him down a little bit with him still on me, but he really didn't look gross or anything. After the cord was cut and clamped and all that, he got flipped over on me for some cuddle time. I hope you get this same experience, though. It was so awesome to have him on my belly on the outside, and the familiar smell of my body comforted him.

 

[DLA]

They put my son on me right away without really any wiping or cleaning. After several minutes they took him to clean him which only took a few minutes then we did BFing and more skin to skin. Hope to do the same thing with my daughter!

 

[Audraia]

I didn't really get asked what I wanted, but when my DD was born they put her directly on my chest and dried her off a bit, then took her soon after to weigh/wrap/put eye drops in and then handed her right back

I liked the way it was done and assume it'll be done the same way this time!

 

[chulie]

Babies in the UK dont get eye drops, as far as im aware its incase baby is exposed to STIs during delivery which we are tested for in pregnancy

So are we in Canada??? we're tested for STI's as well.......it's not really eye drops...it looks like vaseline over the babies eyes....I guess it's a canadian thing? hahahhaa....I'll have to google and see what this is?

i'm in Canada too. I was able to forgo the eye goo by having another late PG chlamydia test! I heard the eye goo makes it difficult for the baby to see you and enjoy those first few moments looking into each others eyes

Ya since I got my tests all clear I might consider that.....although the fact that is said it helps with opening the eye ducts.....now I'm stuck because...I had one baby with block ducts and it's AWFUL(my poor baby woke up every morning with eyes crusted shut due to this...it was so sad!!!!).........Hmmmm I'll have to see come time for #2 how I feel........hmmmmm good to know I don't have to have it though....

 

[babyface15]

chulie, my Dr never mentioned anything about the ducts. she just said that if I didn't want to have it I had to get retested. I'll definitely ask about that too then

 

[sue_88]

My baby will be born into the pool at home (hopefully!) and I will then be holding her for 1/2/3 hours before anyone touches her. I will only let the midwives put a cover over.

I don't think anything on baby's skin should be removed immedately -they have a protective coating for a reason.

Even if I end up in hospital, again skin to skin with me wth only a cover over - no rubbing, patting, cleaning.

Babies in the UK don't get any of that goo stuff put into their eyes, they are given to primarily prevent gonorrhea and chlamydia being passed into baby but as we're fully tested for that, there is absolutely no need to fill up babies eyes with chemicals, and there is no need to weigh a newborn right away.

 

[special_kala]

Women in the UK also arnt routinely tested for groupB (although i think 25% of women will be carriers at some point) and we just dont have babies going blind because of not having the goop in the eye.

 

[ShirlWirl]

I just thought I'd chip in - I had skin to skin straight away with bf'ing and my uterus contract right down within 2 hours - midwives said it was because of the initial feeding straight after birth

 

[d_b]

DS got thrown on me, goo and all I think they put a towel on top of him once he was on me.

I never realized what the eye drops were. But i did have GBS last time.. I might see about not getting them this time if I test negative.

 

[socitycourty]

I had written this into my birth plan but after having the EMCS (since we were both ill) they had to take her and check her out immediately, so I didn't get to do skin to skin like I wanted to so badly....

but they did bring her to me in recovery and I latched her on right away, and we've had no bonding problems.

But if I had been able to deliver naturally I don't know if I would have wanted her cleaned off. As it was they gave her a bath in the NICU that my husband was there for

 

[summer rain]

They delivered my youngest on me in his sac completely intact but it popped as soon as they put him on me, there was surprisingly little water or goo in there though I have to say and he didn't feel any more gooey or gross than my others. With my eldest they did have to take him to help with his breathing and temperature maintenance but I do wonder if they put him skin to skin if he would have had as bad problems as he did? They insisted on thoroughly cleaning him up and getting him dressed before giving him back to me as well this was some years ago though and it was a very old fashioned hospital to begin with xx

 

[motherearth23]

My OB just gave me a birthing plan form to fill out, and one of the sections is about my skin to skin preferences for immediately after birth. I'm familiar with the advantages, and it is definitely something I hope I am able to do; however, one of the options to choose between was to have the baby immediately given to me or to have him "lightly toweled off" and then handed to me. Is there any great disadvantage to having him just a wee bit cleaned up before he's placed on my chest? I'm not really squeamish around blood, but it just kind of sounds... messy to have him put directly on me after pushing him out. Separate from this choice is the choice to not have anyone take him away or fiddle with him for the first hour, so I'm not worried about them "toweling" him off for ages while they actually do other things before giving him to me.

And, of course, this is all assuming all is well. If there is a medical reason for them to take him and care for him some way to make sure he's healthy, I will be happy to let them do their job and keep my baby healthy!

I'm in the US, btw, if there are different practices in different places

I'm choosing to have my baby go straight from womb to chest. My guess is that after laboring for so long you are not going to care if your baby is covered in blood and vernix! I'm also choosing not to have them wash my baby, after reading this article:

https://raisingnaturalkids.com/2012/04/13/wait-dont-wash-that-newborn/

 

[staralfur]

They didn't ask me until I was about to start pushing at which point I said "I don't care just give her to me!" I had thought beforehand that I'd like her to be a bit cleaner but just didn't care at all when actually in the situation. And when they placed her directly on my chest I didn't think "ew, look at all this gross stuff!" or anything, it was the farthest thing from my mind.

I highly doubt you'll care about any of the blood and goop at the time but if you'd rather a quick wipe-down I doubt it would be detrimental.