Naked contact between a mother and her baby at birth has beneficial effects on the child… and his mother, reveals a researcher.
- A total of 116 mother-baby couples participated in the experiment a few years ago: for one hour a day, during the first five weeks after giving birth, the child, in diapers, lay on the bare chest of the parent.
- Infants who had daily skin-to-skin contact after birth cried less than those who did not, throughout the first twelve weeks.
- Mothers who breastfed skin to skin with their child breastfed approximately two months longer (including one month exclusively, without formula milk for example) than the average mother during the first year of life. And they felt less anxious.
Mothers who are less anxious and less exhausted, infants who cry less and sleep longer: skin-to-skin contact would have unsuspected benefits during the first weeks after birth. This is what the behavioral psychologist recently said Kelly Cooijmans during his thesis defense at Radboud University, the Netherlands.
One hour a day of skin-to-skin cuddling
While previous studies had already shown that skin-to-skin contact between a parent and a premature baby could stimulate its growth and immune system, the researcher wanted to determine if it also had positive effects on infants born at term and in good health. A total of 116 mother-baby couples participated in the experiment a few years ago: for one hour a day, during the first five weeks after giving birth, the child, in diapers, lay on the bare chest of the parent.
The results are promising. For baby first: “We observed that infants who had daily skin-to-skin contact after birth cried less than those who did not, throughout the first twelve weeks.”explains Kelly Cooijmans in a communicatedemphasizing that they have “maybe also slept a little more in the first five weeks.”
Skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby promotes breastfeeding
For mom, then: mothers who breastfed skin to skin breastfed about two months longer (including one month exclusively, without powdered milk for example) than the average mother during the first year of life. “Breastfeeding has all kinds of health benefits for mothers and babies”, recalls the researcher. That’s not all: the mothers felt better mentally, with “fewer symptoms of anxiety and fatigue”.
The children who participated in the study, now aged 6 and 7, are still being followed by researchers. “Who knows, maybe we can find more long-term effects”, hopes Kelly Cooijmans, who now plans to extend the research to the effects of skin-to-skin contact with fathers or other guardians, as well as the optimal duration of contact. Thanks to these findings, the researcher hopes that doctors, midwives or staff in maternity wards will recommend more skin-to-skin contact to new parents.
