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Skin To Skin Contact Essay

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Nowadays, separation of mothers from their newborn babies at delivery has become a usual practice despite the escalating evidence that this may have negative effects on the newborn. A growing volume of research supports skin to skin contact between the mother and the newborn in the immediate post-delivery period. Skin to skin contact is defined as placing the naked newborn baby, prone covered across the back with a warm blanket, on the mother's bare chest instantaneously following birth.

A substantial number of studies showed that early skin to skin contact between the mother and the newborn is beneficial to the newborn. Some of the benefits of skin to skin contact include stabilization of the newborn's body temperature through thermoregulation, regulation of heart rate and regulation of respiratory rate (Wallace & Marshal, 2001). Additionally, early skin to skin contact facilitates the initiation of breastfeeding, helps neonatal thermoregulation and promotes maternal-infant bonding (Dabrowski, 2007; Wallace & Marshal, 2001). Skin to skin contact may also ensure colonization of the baby with the …show more content…

This can be due to lack of labor room nurses knowledge about the benefits of skin to skin contact. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the current knowledge level of labor room nurses about skin to skin contact. The problem statement is: what is the perception of labor room nurses towards skin to skin contact between mother and the newborn? The research questions are (1) what do labor room nurses know about skin to skin contact?, (2) what are the factors labor room nurses identify as barriers to implementation of skin to skin contact, (3) what are the factors labor room nurses identify as facilitators to implementation of skin to skin

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