At Hvidovre Hospital we offer early skin to skin contact when having scheduled caesarean. The objective is to improve the experience of the delivery for mother, child and relative. Early skin to skin contact means that your baby will lie with you skin to skin immediately after it is delivered. You can choose to see your baby being delivered and see when the umbilical cord is cut. You will not be able to see the actual operating wound.
Both you and your baby must be well and the delivery must be uncomplicated for you to have early skin to skin contact immediately after the delivery. This means that if you have not had any complications during your pregnancy and no complications have occurred during the scheduled caesarean, skin to skin contact immediately after the delivery will be standard procedure. Naturally, you can also choose not to have skin to skin contact immediately after the delivery. Currently, it is not possible to do early skin to skin contact if you are expecting twins and are having scheduled caesarean.
It is well-known that both mother and child benefit from early skin to skin contact and close contact immediately after the delivery. This is primarily because of the increased excretion of the hormone oxytocin.
Benefits are among others:
- Early close contact between mother and child
- Stabilisation of blood pressure, pulse and body temperature for both mother and child
- Less anxiety and fewer stress hormones
- Easier to start up breastfeeding and long-term breastfeeding
If skin to skin contact is not possible immediately after the delivery, you will have skin to skin contact with your baby as soon as it is possible, and you will still be able to establish the close contact with your baby.