Breast feeding within the 1st Hour
It is so important for a newly born infant to experience uninterrupted skin-to-skin care after birth and before leaving the hospital. In describing the guideline for Step 4 of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, Baby-Friendly USA says:
“All mothers should be given their infants to hold with uninterrupted and continuous skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth and until the completion of the first feeding, unless there are documented medically justifiable reasons for delayed contact or interruption,” ¹.
Skin-to-skin care after birth is so Important
No matter how the infant is to be fed, every new family should have this opportunity. The guideline goes on to say that all routine procedures such as various assessments, Apgar scores, eye prophylaxis, Vitamin K injection, etc. can and should be completed without separating mother and baby; these are easily completed in the skin-to-skin positioning. Bathing or other procedures that would interrupt this parent/infant skin-to-skin time should at least be completed at the mother’s bedside. In addition, continued skin-to-skin care after birth should be encouraged throughout the family’s hospital stay.
Evaluations by Baby-Friendly for BFHI designation will randomly select mothers in the postpartum area who have had normal vaginal births, looking for at least 80% who can confirm their infants were placed in skin-to-skin contact with them immediately after birth and continued uninterrupted until the end of the first feeding (or at least one hour is not breastfeeding). If separation was initiated, the evaluators will be looking for documentation of medically justifiable reasons for delayed or shortened contact.
Final Thoughts...
Often, facility staff ask about infants who have been delivered in a surgical birth, do these criteria apply in the operating room also? Watch for the next post to discuss this subject and discuss it with your colleagues to see if you can find a joint consensus. If you enjoyed this post then you may also be interested in a previous post on Preventing Birthing Trauma and Failure. Don’t forget to share!
Referrences
- Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. (2020). The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. Interim Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria for Facilities Seeking and Sustaining Baby Friendly Designation. https://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/news/bfusa-releases-interim-guidelines-and-evaluation-criteria/
