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Skin to skin contact should take place immediately after birth and in the weeks and months following birth with your baby naked or in a diaper (not wrapped in a blanket) lying directly on your (or your partner's) bare chest or belly. Skin to skin contact has many benefits for both you and your baby including stabilizing your baby's temperature, breathing rate, heart rate, and blood sugar, improving chances of successful chest/breastfeeding, encouraging bonding between parents and baby, releasing calming hormones, and lessening the frequency of crying.
Click below to learn more about the benefits of skin to skin contact and advice about how to do it.
- HealthyFamiliesBC - Admission to postpartum: keeping your baby skin-to-skin
- International Breastfeeding Center - Best practices for skin to skin contact with your newborn
- Toronto Public Health - Holding your baby skin to skin and breastfeeding benefits
- Middlesex-London Health Unit - Benefits of skin to skin for you and your baby after delivery and beyond
- IWK Health Centre - The power of a parent's touch
- Dr. Mike Evans - Saving children's brains
- Sanford Health - The importance of skin-to-skin with baby after delivery