Does skin-to-skin contact with their babies have benefits for the parents?
It seems to help the mothers, too. It reduces their stress level—they report lower levels of depression, they seem to be able to be more sensitive to their baby’s cues and the babies are more responsive to the mother through the whole first three months. They’re recognizing their mother earlier, so the relationship between the mother and baby is off to a facilitated start. It works the same way with fathers, too. There is some interesting work showing that mothers who have just given birth, their skin area on their chest is a degree or two higher than the rest of their body, creating a natural warming area for the newborn. They have the ability to thermoregulate for the baby—if the baby’s temperature drops, the mother’s temperature rises, and if the baby’s temperature rises, the mother’s drops. There seems to be a connection between mother and baby from the birthing process itself. What is happening in the body—of both parent and child—when there is skin-to-skin contact? From the mothe
