The wonder of skin to skin

So as a midwife on a postnatal ward, it can be excessively busy, and one never seems to have the time to do every that one would wish. One key thing that often seems to get neglected is that of breastfeeding support. Wonderfully in the hospital in which I work, we have dedicated volunteer breastfeeding support workers who come almost daily, and a full time employed "breastfeeding specialist"- who is amazing- and seems to be able to get any baby latched on!! But, still, breastfeeding is one of those things that can rarely have enough support.

While studying I wrote a 5,000 word essay on the wonder of skin to skin... and can I just tell you- its amazing! From the very first hours onwards- it works miracles. For you midwives who never seem to have enough time to give breastfeeding support, and you ladies who don't seem to be able to latch your baby on; use skin to skin. Strip the baby off to the nappy, and place the baby diagonally across the stomach, so that the baby's nose brushes the nipple, and just leave the baby there, it can take up to 45 minutes, but baby's almost always latch on successfully, in what is known as the "biological nurturing" position.

http://breastcrawl.org/

Skin to skin helps to regulate breathing, temperature, heart rate, initiate bonding and successful breastfeeding as well as a medley of other benefits (like I said there's 5,000 words worth on this topic.. and more!) So if you are at 3 o'clock in the morning and wanting to pull your hair out because you cant seem to get baby to latch on, or if you're a midwife and have 5 women all at the same time wanting to get breastfeeding support, just strip that baby off, and place it in the biological nurturing position, and ask the women to call you in 45 minutes if the baby hasn't latched on... I tell thee! Rarely do they call you back. It is a beautiful and uber natural thing to see a woman there skin to skin with her baby. The mum loves it, and the baby loves it! And so, I love it!