Relatives: Do Not Take The Baby Before The Mother After The Birth
Relatives, do not do it, never take a newborn baby if the mother has not yet had the opportunity to do it after delivery. Something that hospital protocols must take care of is to allow that first and needed contact between mother and child as soon as they are born: because the first hour of life is sacred between both.
The fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) itself drew up a 16-point protocol to promote a more humanized birth is undoubtedly as striking as it is worrying. Today, in many health centers, giving birth follows such standardized guidelines that many mothers remember the act of giving birth as something almost traumatic.
It is not the right thing to do. As it is not the case that a newborn goes from arm to arm of the relatives before a mother who has not yet had the opportunity to see and feel her own child. Today in our space we want to talk to you about this fact that far from being something anecdotal, has great importance for the emotional world of its two protagonists: the mother and the son.
Family members, respect privacy
When a couple goes to the hospital to give birth, they never know what is going to happen in the next few hours. We may have to cope with a cesarean section, it is possible that the mother ends up sedated without having the opportunity to meet her newborn child until a few hours later.
Our parents, brothers, uncles, or friends want the best for us and celebrate that moment with joy and emotion. Of course, many of them cannot help but take the baby from the crib and pass him from arm to arm to welcome him, to discover who he looks like.
Dear relatives, do not do it . Because few moments require as much intimacy as that moment in which a woman has just given birth and must make contact with her child, with that dear tenant who has been part of her for nine months.
The importance of early contact
Many specialists speak of “an affective imprint”, that is to say that after childbirth, it opens between one and two wonderful hours where it is necessary that a quick contact be established between the mother and the child.
Nils Bergman, a specialist in perinatal neuroscience, explains that the first 1,000 minutes of a child’s life can be key to their later development.
- We cannot forget that childbirth has been “somewhat traumatic” for the baby, he has gone from a warm and protected environment to a strange world where suddenly, someone manipulates him, cuts the umbilical cord and washes it for later, to put some labels on it. .
- All that world of stimuli is annoying for the baby. Around him there is no longer the amniotic fluid to cushion each touch, each contact. Suddenly, strange enemies come to his brain: stress, fear, panic.
- All these stimuli could be avoided in a simple way: by taking the newborn to its mother. There is no rush to cut the umbilical cord, nor to wash it. Because the most important thing is that you find calm in that warm and pleasant-smelling skin that from now on, will be part of your life.
- That imprint of calm generates appropriate changes in your brain. There is no stress, there is no fear. For her part, the mother will also start breastfeeding by releasing oxytocin. Everything is calm and balanced, a wonderful first contact that lays the foundation of the mother-child bond.
Relatives, you bring too many smells, too many stimuli
We have to put ourselves in the baby’s place. If you haven’t met your mother yet, going arm to arm is going to make you feel overstimulated and lost. Too many different smells, too many strange sensations, sounds, fuzzy shadows before him or her.
You have to be very aware of an essential aspect, the only two things a baby needs when it is born is its mother and the food that she provides. Nothing more.
General advice for family members before the birth of a baby
Above all, it is necessary to celebrate that both the mother and the boy or girl are well. Next, we have to be wise and understand one thing: that there will be time, a lot of time to discover, love, hug and touch that baby who is already part of our family, of our personal circle.
So, dear family members, remember these tips:
- Respect the privacy of the mother and baby, as well as the couple.
- You don’t have to touch the baby. There will be time. However, and above all, never take him in your arms before the mother.
- If you are going to touch it, remember that you have to have clean hands. If possible, do not kiss him (there will be a lot of time!).
- Do not enter many family members into the room, what the mother and the child need is calm, intimacy.
