Your bundle of joy is finally here! You carried your baby for months in your womb, now you finally get to hold them in your arms during “The Golden Hour” – the first hour after baby’s birth. This important transition time occurs immediately after a vaginal or cesarean birth.
There are 3 key phases during the Golden Hour that boost bonding between you and baby:
- Skin-to-skin care
- Delayed cord clamping
- Breastfeeding
Skin-to-Skin Care
Immediately after birth, your healthcare provider will place baby directly on your bare chest.
You’ll both be draped with a blanket to keep you warm and give you privacy. While baby is skin-to-skin with you, the nursing team will check their appearance, pulse, reflexes, movement, breathing, and wipe fluids from their mouth and nose. As they ensure your baby is doing well after the birth, they’ll prioritize uninterrupted skin-to-skin care with you.
The benefits of baby being directly on your chest for the first 60 minutes of their life are far greater if baby is unclothed and laying directly on your bare breast Your baby’s care team can add their ID bands while they snuggle on your chest. Other tasks like weighing baby and taking footprints can wait until the end of the golden hour.
If you’re unable to have skin-to-skin time with your baby, your partner, a relative or friend can also o skin-to-skin with your little one. Baby will receive the same bonding benefits.
Request Delayed Cord Clamping
As part of your birth plan, consider requesting delayed umbilical cord clamping. This means that your provider or midwife will delay clamping baby’s umbilical cord anywhere from 30 seconds to as much as up to 3-5 minutes. The delay allows for extra blood to flow from the placenta into your baby’s body.
Even if your baby is born before 37 weeks, premature babies can safely experience the benefits of 30-60 seconds of delayed cord clamping, before the healthcare team does any tests or assessments. The increased amount of blood your baby receives builds up how much iron they have stored in their body for up to 6 months, which is when they typically begin eating iron-rich solid foods. The delay also gives them more red blood cells, decreases the risk of bleeding in the brain, reduces the need for blood transfusions, and helps prevent infections in their intestines.
Delayed cord clamping does not increase your risk of blood loss or hemorrhage.
Breastfeeding
Immediate skin-to-skin care after birth can increase how long you’ll likely exclusively breastfeed baby through the first 6 months. Why is that? Well, after birth, your baby is more likely to remain awake, alert and crawl toward your nipple to latch on and begin feeding. Once you’ve successfully started breastfeeding, repeat every 1-3 hours, or about 8-12 times per day (including overnight) for the first few months.
Holding baby skin-to-skin, oxytocin – nicknamed the love hormone – starts a series of steps in your brain (milk letdown) that causes more milk to be carried through your breast while you’re breastfeeding. Additionally, this powerful hormone helps to strengthen your feelings of attachment to your baby during breastfeeding, causes your uterus to contract and return to its normal size (thus reducing bleeding), and for the longer term, helps lower stress postpartum.
Golden Hour Benefits
For Baby:
Your baby’s body experiences rapid changes to their organs immediately after birth. Skin-to-skin care helps them successfully transition to life outside your womb:
- Reduces stress and crying
- Breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure become regular
- Body temperature syncs with your body temp as it increases or decreases to warm or cool your baby
- Blood sugar becomes normal and decreases the need for additional support for low blood sugar
For Mom:
The golden hour is a 2-for-1 deal! You receive similar benefits when baby lays on your chest the entire time:
- Increases milk flow
- Causes uterus to contract and decrease in size
- Decreases bleeding risk
- Lowers stress
- Creates strong feelings of attachment
- Helps you feel more positive about your childbirth experience
Cesarean Birth
There’s no need to worry about whether you can enjoy the golden hour if you have a cesarean birth. Add skin-to-skin care to your birth plan. Discuss with your pregnancy care provider at one of your prenatal appointments, ask questions about skin-to-skin care during your maternity tour, and on the big day, bring copies of your birth plan with you to the hospital with you to give your nurses.
Many hospitals are adopting new policies where the healthcare team lowers the drape in the operating room, allowing you and your partner to see baby as they’re slowly lifted up and out of your body. Your provider can then place baby under the drape and onto your chest. Delayed cord clamping can occur, and your partner can cut baby’s umbilical cord.
Your healthcare team will dry baby and cover you both with warm blankets as they continue to repair your body. There’s no increased risk for infection when skin-to-skin care occurs in the operating room. You and baby can stay skin-to-skin and recover together as long as you both stay healthy.
Advocate for You and Baby
Healthy Mom&Baby is your go to source for information about skin-to-skin care, delayed cord clamping, and breastfeeding. Discuss our articles and discuss when you’re with your pregnancy care provider to help set your expectations. Ask questions about different situations that may occur and how your partner can be involved. On your baby’s birthday, ask for minimal interruptions during the golden hour and have relatives visit once your family returns home.
