Visit our Canada siteImagine being safely tucked and ensconced in a comfortable home. Everything you need is provided. It is quiet, calm, and peaceful. You feel the need to stretch, and all of a sudden your home is gone. The safe, warm feeling has gushed away, it’s cold, there’s a new element—air, and it’s bright, and it’s loud, and it’s scary!
Yes, being born is a new, exciting, but frightening event for babies. Luckily, research has shown that what helps calm them in their brand new environment is skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately after birth. Shortly after being born, often before the umbilical cord is cut, babies are placed on their mother’s chest and are allowed to breastfeed. The breastfeeding helps teach them how to latch correctly from a very early stage, and the warmth of their mother plus the sound of her heartbeat (a sound they are very familiar with) can help calm them as they transition into the world.
Skin to skin contact, also commonly known as kangaroo care (defined as: when babies are naked against their mother’s bare skin), has benefits beyond calming the baby in those first few moments. Some of the benefits include regularization of the baby’s body temperature, increased milk production for moms, stabilizes the baby’s heartbeat, reduces anxiety, transfer of good bacteria, and more! So great are its benefits that Unicef UK has even made it a key part of their Baby Friendly Initiative standards.
Now, did you know that skin-to-skin contact is important between dads and babies too? YES! When a father holds his naked baby against his bare skin, the baby also benefits immensely!
1. Stabilizes breathing
As babies learn to breathe on their own, having a close-up example can really help. 75% of sporadic breathing episodes are reduced through skin to skin contact. The better a baby breathes, the better the oxygen enters their body, calming their heart, nerves, and more.
2. Better rest
Babies naturally fall asleep when they are sleeping on their parents, daddy included! In those first few days, they often get the best sleep when on kangaroo care. And that’s fine if your baby falls asleep, s/he needs it! Let them sleep and enjoy every moment of your tiny human!
3. Enhances the immune system
Just as a mother can pass good bacteria to her baby through her skin, so can a father! The bacteria and antibodies that get passed along can help strengthen the baby’s immune system while increasing the baby’s skin hydration.
4. Increases brain development
Because so many senses are activated during kangaroo care—the baby smells, hears, sees, and feels their dad—the baby’s neural pathways are activated due to the processing the brain has to do to recognise their father as a safe and able caregiver to them. Along with getting better rest—always good for the brain—this full sensory experience accelerates brain development.
The list of skin-to-skin benefits can go on, but the bottom-line is that BOTH moms and dads should regularly hold their naked baby against their bare skin as often as they can during the baby’s first few months. Apart from the benefits mentioned, the greatest benefit of all is the unconditional bond the child will form with their parents. It is one to last a lifetime.
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