Skin to Skin Contact Immediately After Cesarean: Benefits to Mom and Baby

Mothers and newborns have a physiologic need to be together during the first moment of birth. Interrupted skin-to-skin attachment between mothers and babies can be harmful and can negatively impact short and long term health outcomes and breastfeeding success. Evidence supports instant skin-to-skin care after the birth, vaginally and C-section, during and after cesarean surgery for all stable mothers and newborns will enhance limitless opportunities for care and breastfeeding. Skin-to-skin contact after delivery is golden opportunity. Many studies validate that mothers and babies should be skin-to-skin promptly after birth. Not only promotes healthier baby and successful breastfeeding outcome, it is also

Skin to skin contact immediately after birth provides comfort and stability for both mother and infant. Doing skin to skin contact immediately after birth in the

For any mother the birth of a newborn child can be a challenging experience. As nurses it is part of our job to ensure their experience is positive. We can help do this by providing the information they will need to affective care for their newborn. This information includes topics such as, breastfeeding, jaundice, when to call your doctor and even how to put your baby to sleep. When the parents have an understanding of these topics before discharge it can largely reduce their natural anxiety accompanied with the transition to parenthood. Health teaching for new parents is seen as such an important aspect of care on post-partum floors it is actually a necessary component that needs to be covered before the hospital can discharge the

Special care and attention must be given to infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) because of their small size and the health complications they face. One particular challenge faced by health care professionals in the NICU is the management of pain for preterm babies. Preterm infants must undergo a wide range of tests, procedures, and, often, life-saving measures during their hospitalizations, which not only subjects them to pain, but pain-related stress and anxiety. This has an impact on the infants themselves, as well as on the family members and friends who are involved in their care (Smith, Steelfisher, Salhi, & Shen, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of pain management among preterm NICU patients and propose the implementation of kangaroo care as a pain management technique.

There will be a task force to put the new practice into place. The leaders of the task force will be the surgical director and the nursery director. The directors will plan the task force meetings. They will act as resources for the rest of the team. The directors will recruit nurse leaders to participate in facilitating the change to skin to skin. The directors will make sure the staff gets the appropriate training for the skin to skin conversion. There will be at least two registered nurses from the Labor and Delivery unit attending the task force. These nurses will already have experience with infants being skin to skin immediately after delivery. The nurses can help train the operating room staff and perform check-offs of staff for the conversion. The directors will consult with the employee educator for appropriate competency training. An anesthesiologist will also attend the task force meetings. The

closeness with her newborn” (United Sates 3). With all of these proven health benefits, there is

Ricci, S. Kyle, T. and Carman, S. (2017). Maternity and pediatric nursing 3rd ed. Philadelphia:

With a cesarean, mothers and babies are less likely to have skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth. Skin to skin contacts have several

I protected Laura’s perineum with warm compress and applied pressure to Ollie’s head while coaching Laura to pant. Laura and I worked together to slowly deliver his head and achieved and intact perineum. This is a skill that I have successfully worked on and developed. When I began working with Laura’s midwife at the beginning of the year I was still unsure of how to properly protect the perineum and how much pressure to apply if being hands on. Following the delivery of Ollie’s head I asked the backup midwife to lower the head of the bed to allow more room for Ollie’s shoulders. Dave was standing patiently at the side of the bed, gloved up and chanting Laura on. Once Ollie’s shoulders were delivered Dave helped with the rest of his body. We dried Ollie down and then Dave placed him up on Laura’s chest for skin-to –skin with a clean, dry, warm towel covering the two of them. The back-up had drawn up syntocinon for the third stage and had said she would administer it. I would manage Laura’s third stage because she had been induced, had a precipitious delivery, and Ollie was a large baby over 4.5kgs (Pairman et al, 2015 – pg 1141; stables pg 607; McKenzie, 2013; Goddman, Nathan & Chazotte, 2016; Sheldon et al 2014). However the backup delayed the administration of the syntocinon in hope to protect a physiological third stage.

Kangaroo Mother Care is a method of holding an infant in a certain position to help improve health. Although there are many articles supporting this statement, a literature review is still necessary to show credibility. This paper will provide an overview on the various research articles by explaining the supportive measures for the PICOT, comparing and contrasting the articles, and analyzing the evidence found regarding the study.

Cesarean delivery rates in the United States have risen significantly in the past couple of years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by 2013, the percent of all deliveries by Cesarean was at 32.7%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; 2013). The largest single indication contributing to this trend is the large increase in primary cesarean deliveries, which subsequently results in repeat cesarean delivery. (Elliot et al., 2012). In doing my clinical rotation in Obstetrics and Gynecology this semester, I was able to encounter post partum women who had had a Cesarean Section (C-Section)under my preceptor Dr. Rachna Bhala and most of the C-Sections I observed had subcuticular sutures.

Kangaroo mother care was first started in Colombia in 1978. This practice involves an infant being placed skin-to-skin with a parent, early breastfeeding and discharge as well as follow up care (Conde-Aguelo, Belizan & Diaz-Rossello, 2012). Evidence has shown that this practice compared to the use of an incubator for infants with low birth weight has significantly decreased infant mortality. The benefits that this practice provides are stabilization of newborn temperature, lowered risk of infection, increase in newborn growth, and shorter hospital stay (Conde-Aguelo, Belizan & Diaz-Rossello, 2012). Although there are numerous benefits to kangaroo care, it’s implementation in neonatal intensive units has been limited. According to 129 neonatal

Hospitals should strive to achieve the Baby-Friendly Initiative to help give mothers and infants a proper start. The initiative is a global effort for improving the role of maternity services to enable mothers to breastfeed babies for the best start in life. It aims to improve the care of pregnant women, new mothers, and newborns at health facilities that provide maternity services for protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding. Recent goals of the initiative were that at least 80% of mothers would confirm that their babies were placed in skin-to-skin contact with them immediately after birth and that skin-to-skin contact continued uninterrupted until the completion of the first feeding (or for at least one hour if not breastfeeding), unless there were medically justifiable reasons for delayed contact. Since the program's inception, approximately 15,000 facilities in more than 152 countries have been inspected and accredited as

Some might wonder, well what exactly is skin to skin contact after birth? Skin to skin contact is basically when the newborn is placed in their mother’s arms or belly and left there. Once left there the newborn usually finds its way to the breast to be breast feed. Research has shown that newborns tend to be more alert within the first two hours of life. When a healthy naked newborn is placed in skin to skin contact at birth, it uses its senses to set a course and eventually will find and attach itself to the breast. All healthy babies should be dried and placed naked on the mother’s chest for skin to skin contact immediately after birth, and held there in a peaceful environment until the infant has made contact with the breast. This

Through research, skin-to-skin (kangaroo) care has been shown to be one of the most affective early interventions used by parents. It has been stated that kangaroo care helps to regulate preterm infants ' body temperatures, improve preterm infants ' breathing patterns and blood oxygen levels, and increase the rate at which preterm infants gain weight. Kangaroo care has been known to diminish apnea, slow heart rates, and hospital stays for preterm babies. Kangaroo care intervention includes rhythmic, sensory, and tactile elements. These elements help preterm infants ' attention span, development of both motor and mental skills, and cognitive development. When a mother participates in kangaroo care, the preterm infant is placed in between her breasts and when a father participates in this type of intervention, the preterm infant is placed next to his chest. Mothers who participate in kangaroo care state they have more positive emotions toward their baby and they have a better feel of their parenting role (Feldman, Eidelman, Sirota, & Weller, 2002).