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What Is Skin-to-Skin Contact?
Skin-to-skin contact with you is something that can bring big benefits to you and your baby, but it's not really mentioned that much to new parents. NICU babies get skin-to-skin a lot because the nurses show the parents how to do it when they come to visit their preemies. It's been scientifically proven to help preemies gain weight and get out of the NICU sooner. Some people call skin-to-skin kangaroo care because it's just like a baby kangaroo being in the mama's kangaroo pouch.
How Skin-to-Skin Benefits Babies
While skin-to-skin is most often done with preemies, it can actually help any baby. Skin-to-skin with either parent has been shown to stabilize a baby's heart rate and calm them down. It makes their breathing more regular, which is important mainly in preemies who sometimes seem to forget that they have to breathe or have erratic breathing patterns.
It helps with babies' sleep, not only with deeper sleep, but they sleep longer, which can help them grow. It helps lower the risk of hypothermia, which is a low body temperature. Babies can't regulate their body temperatures much after birth, so skin-to-skin helps them do that. It supports healthy sleep, including more quiet sleep and longer cycles, and it helps with pain, actually, like when they're getting those heel-poke blood tests.
How Skin-to-Skin Helps Parents
So that's how it helps your baby. How does it help you as a parent? Well, the biggest way is that it helps you bond with your baby. That's not always easy when you have a preemie or a difficult delivery. I had a preemie, and it was not a good experience with his care or mine after delivery, so I had a hard time bonding with him. He was so tiny his dad was afraid to even hold him. Through skin-to-skin, once he got home, it really helped build that bond that I didn't get with him in the first few days of life.
Doing skin-to-skin with your baby can help bring your milk supply in and help with breastfeeding. It also helps both parents be more comfortable in recognizing their baby's needs. And finally, the best reason to do skin-to-skin with your baby is because baby therapy is the best. Snuggling a baby can release endorphins and just bring a feeling of calm and happiness, and that is exactly what new parents need.
Feel Confident Caring for Your Newborn
A collection of newborn-focused episodes from the HEALTHY KIDS ZONE podcast.
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