How Skin-To-Skin Affects Mother And Baby

Prior and during my clinical experience, I had some free time to go and read up on some EBP. One article that I came across was about how skin-to-skin can affect both mother and baby. The research article stated many points that I was so excited to share with my patient. I had learned a lot of these points from past lectures, but it was awesome to see it in writing. I learned that skin-to-skin from a mothers standpoint is reassuring. The mother feels her baby’s skin next to hers and it actually calms her down. The article also stated that using skin-to-skin increases the temperatures of both bodies. As for the baby, the feeling and smells that are picked up from the mother are naturally soothing and the baby feels “secure”. The article also stated that it is proven to help …show more content…
As the conversation flowed, I asked the mother if she knew what that was called. She told me it was called skin-to-skin and that she had been reading throughout pregnancy about how it can help both mother and baby. The mother was very pleased and seemed overjoyed that I was asking her about this topic. I asked the mother about her first pregnancy and asked if she used skin-to-skin. The mother stated she did not use skin-to-skin and in fact had a very undesirable experience breastfeeding. As I was listening, the baby latched onto the mother’s nipple naturally. The mother stated that she has been experiencing such an opposite experience with this newborn. The mother’s temperature actually raised every time she had been skin-to-skin with the baby. When the baby had been skin-to-skin with her, the mother’s temperature was around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but when the baby was in dad’s arms, the mother temperature was around 97 degrees Fahrenheit. The mother was very pleased with the results that already showed. She stated that it was reassuring for me to talk about it with her more because she wanted to hear feedback from a medical