Associate Professor of Paediatrics, Katarina Michelsson, and her colleagues observed the number of times a newborn baby cried. In the first 90 minutes after their birth babies separated from their mothers cried almost 10 times more than babies in body contact with their mothers2. Health care researchers at the Karolinska Hospital in Sweden had similar findings. When they observed babies separated from their mothers the babies began to cry. This stopped when they were reunited. They concluded that the most appropriate place for a healthy newborn baby was in close body contact with its mother3. Babies cry less in their mother's arms than when they are kept in a nursery or when they are swaddled and beside their mother's bed.
There are other benefits of skin contact compared to separation. Polish researchers observed three groups of newborns. The first were in skin contact their mother, the second were swaddled and lying beside their mother and the third were swaddled and placed away from their mother. They found that the number of crying episodes was significantly greater in the separated group. Those with skin contact cried on 7 occasions, babies in the swaddled group beside their mother cried 17 times and those in the separated group cried 38 times. They also found that blood glucose levels were highest for the skin contact group and lowest for the separated group while body temperature was most stable for the skin contact group. They concluded that skin-to-skin contact with their mothers was the best place for newborn babies4.
And:
However, in their book, 'A guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth', the authors describe several studies that investigated the effects of separating mother and baby. This research indicated that separation was more likely to result in less maternal affection. Separation was found to be ineffective and possibly harmful. They concluded that unless new evidence showed some benefit in separation mothers should have unrestricted access to their babies5.
And:
Paediatricians at the Malmo General Hospital in Sweden found that even a separation of 20 minutes after birth could result in suckling problems, even in those mothers who had not received medication during labour6. The authors of 'A guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth' confirm that separation can have a negative effect on breastfeeding success. Their reviews of the available research found that women who had restricted contact with their babies were significantly more likely to discontinue breastfeeding in the first 3 months7.
References:
2. Michelsson, K., Christensson, K., Rothganger, H., & Winberg, J., 1996, 'Crying in separated and non-separated newborns: sound spectographic analysis', Acta Paediatrics, April;85(4), pp. 471-475.
3. Christensson, K., Cabrera, T., Christensson, E., Uvnas-Moberg, K., & Winberg, J., 1995, 'Separation distress call in the human neonate in the absence of maternal body contact', Acta Paediatrics, May;84(5), pp. 468-473.
4. Mazurek, T., Mikiel-Kostyra, K., Mazur, J., Wieczorek, P., Radwanska, B., Pachuta-Wegier, L., 1999, 'Influence of immediate newborn care on infant adaptation to the environment', med Wieku Rozwoj, Apr-Jun;3(2), pp. 214-225.
5. Enkin, M., Keirse, Marc J.N.C., Neilson, J., Crowther, C., Duley, L., Hodnett, E., & Hofmeyer, J., 2000, A guide to effective care in pregnancy and childbirth, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 437.
6. Righard, L., Alade, M.O., 1990, 'Effect of delivery room routines on first breast-feed', Lancet Nov 3;336(8723), pp.1105-7.
7. Enkin, M., Keirse, Marc J.N.C., Neilson, J., Crowther, C., Duley, L., Hodnett, E., & Hofmeyer, J., 2000, A guide to effective care in pregnancy and childbirth, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 430.
She has lots more on her website www.parentlink.org Here is one excerpt:
[Influence of immediate newborn care on infant adaptation to the environment]
[Wplyw postepowania z noworodkiem bezposrednio po porodzie na cechy jego adaptacji do srodowiska.] Med Wieku Rozwoj 1999 Apr-Jun;3(2):215-24 (ISSN: 1428-345X) Mazurek T; Mikiel-Kostyra K; Mazur J; Wieczorek P; Radwanska B; Pachuta-Wegier L [Find other articles with these Authors] Oddzial Polozniczo-Ginekologiczny Wojewodzki Szpital Specjalistyczny im. Stefana Kardynala Wyszynskiego w Lublinie. The indicators of newborns' adaptation during 75 min after birth were compared in three randomised groups of full-term newborns: skin-to-skin contact (group I), swaddled newborns beside the mother (group II), swaddled and separated from the mother (group III). The changes in skin temperature, blood glucose, pH, heart rate, respiration rate and crying time were studied. All the above characteristics but pH were significantly the most favourable for infants in the skin-to-skin group. The analysis of individual trends of changes in skin temperature indicated that for all but two newborns not separated from the mother (skin-to-skin or lying besides) the temperature was growing during the observation period, whereas in the separated group, six newborns (27%) had unstable not growing temperature. The mean level of blood glucose was the highest in skin-to-skin group (60.1 mg/dl), lower in group of swaddled and lying beside mother (52.5 mg/dl) and the lowest (49.6 mg/dl) in the separated group. The mean duration of crying time in the skin-to-skin contact was a little shorter than in the group of newborns lying besides the mother and more than three times shorter than in the separated group. The observed number of episodes of crying were 7, 17 and 38 in the three groups respectively. All results indicated that skin-to-skin contact is optimal for newborns', adaptation after birth especially as a protection against hypothermia and hypoglycaemia.