Skin-to-skin contact with a mother as soon as she is born is «the best start» that a baby can have in life, according to existing scientific evidence, which points to this simple (and free) gesture as a great therapeutic strategy, since it improves health in key aspects.
The magazine Cochranewhich analyzes the state of science in different subjects to inform health decision-making, has carried out an update of knowledge regarding this «skin-to-skin» contact.
The last review took place in 2016 and served as the basis for developing 20 international guidelines, including a recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, 26 new studies have been carried out, bringing the total to 69 trials with more than 7,000 mother-baby pairs, most of them carried out in developed countries.
It consists of placing the naked newborn on the mother’s bare chest immediately after birth (Twitter).
Improves lactation
Skin-to-skin contact involves placing the naked newborn on the mother’s bare chest immediately after birth, and Keep it like this for at least an hour.
According to existing studies, this simple practice helps babies adapt better and faster to life outside the womb. It keeps them warm and with good blood sugar levels, reduces stress and cryingand promotes vital functions such as breathing and heart rate.
The results show that mothers who have skin-to-skin contact are more likely to exclusively breastfeed during the first six months of the child’s life.
You have to keep it like this for at least an hour (Instagram).According to existing studies, about 75% of babies who received early skin-to-skin contact were exclusively breastfed by one month of age, compared to 55% of babies in groups that received early skin-to-skin contact. They didn’t have that experience.
Additionally, although none of the studies reviewed focused exclusively on survival, there is research in developing countries, such as India, that has shown that skin-to-skin contact can make the difference between life and death in babies with low birth weight.
The standard of healthcare
The results indicate that «there is sufficient evidence that skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth should be the standard of health care worldwide,» the authors of the review emphasize.
They confirm that skin-to-skin contact after birth is «the best start in life» (Twitter).In fact, they go further and go so far as to maintain that given the existing consensus on the matter «separating a baby from its mother as soon as it is born without justified cause It’s not ethical.»
«Historically, babies have been separated from their mothers immediately after birth for routine procedures such as physical examination, weighing and bathing, which precludes immediate skin-to-skin contact,» says one of the authors, Elizabeth Moore, a nursing researcher at Vanderbilt University in the United States.
«Denying skin-to-skin contact should not be ethical from now on, since there is sufficient evidence to show that this practice improves the health and survival of newborns,» says another of the authors, researcher at the American Healthy Children project, Karin Cadwell.
Although some of the research reviewed has suggested that skin-to-skin contact is also good for the mother, the evidence of its health benefit is not as clear as in the case of babies.
EFE Agency.
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