Bonding after birth

The Importance of Infant Bonding

When a caregiver consistently responds to an infant’s needs, it sets the stage for the growing child to enter healthy relationships with other people throughout life and to appropriately experience and express a full range of emotions.

By Mary Beth Steinfeld, M.D.

The process of bonding with a new baby is natural for most mothers. Left alone, new mothers will hold their baby next to their bodies, rock them gently, strive for eye contact, sing or talk to the baby and begin to nurse. Often within just hours of birth, mothers report feelings of overwhelming love and attachment for their new baby.

A normal, full-term baby is also programmed to initiate and enter into a bonding relationship. Crying and making other noises, smiling, searching for the breast, and seeking eye contact give cues for a caring adult to respond.

When a caregiver consistently responds to an infant’s needs, a trusting relationship and lifelong attachment develops. This sets the stage for the growing child to enter healthy relationships with other people throughout life and to appropriately experience and express a full range of emotions.

An optimum opportunity

Dr. Steinfeld is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at UC Davis Medical Center and UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento.

But what happens when things don’t work out so well? What if babies and their mothers are separated at birth, as when babies are premature or ill and need special care? Or babies who are placed for adoption and may not meet their adoptive mother for quite some time after birth? Sometimes a new mother feels depressed or incapacitated after delivery and doesn’t feel like interacting with her newborn.

Fortunately, humans are not completely dependent on those early moments and have many opportunities to bond appropriately throughout the first year of life. We know that mothers who adopt babies and even older children are able to form normal attachment relationships.

Still, the first few days of life are believed to offer an optimum opportunity for bonding to take place. Standard practice in most U.S. hospitals allows mothers and babies as much time as possible together after birth. Even when babies are born ill or premature, the importance of bonding is recognized. Whenever possible, health care providers in intensive care units try to create opportunities for parents to spend time holding and caring for their babies.

Dads and siblings, too

Babies who are held and comforted when they need it during the first six months of life tend to be more secure and confident as toddlers and older children.

Is it important for fathers to bond with their babies? Absolutely. New fathers often feel less confident than new mothers around a baby, and may feel excluded in the close relationship that develops between the mother and baby. If a baby is breastfed, fathers may be uncertain about what activities they can engage in with the new baby.

Like mothers, fathers need quiet time to spend holding their new babies close, gazing into their eyes, talking to them and comforting them when distressed. Fathers may wish to take walks with their babies tucked into a Snugli-type carrier or simply hold a quiet baby while reading or watching TV.

Brothers and sisters also need time and opportunities to establish a relationship with a new baby. You might offer young children who are too unreliable to hold a baby safely to have brief, supervised periods playing next to a brother or sister in a large crib or playpen. Such times often elicit unique responses of excitement and joy from the baby and allow loving relationships to develop successfully.

The 'spoiling' myth

While bonding does not occur instantly for everyone, it should be well established within the first few months after you bring your baby home.

The importance of bonding with the primary caregiver cannot be overestimated. Failure to do so profoundly affects future development and the ability to form healthy relationships as an adult.

I urge parents to give themselves plenty of time with their baby and to follow their instincts. Respond to the baby’s cues, and offer love and comfort when distressed.

Contrary to the “wisdom” in past generations, responding quickly to crying with holding and nursing will not “spoil” a baby. Instead, babies who are held and comforted when they need it during the first six months of life tend to be more secure and confident as toddlers and older children.

Seek help if you feel that bonding is not progressing as it should. While bonding does not occur instantly for everyone, it should be well established within the first few months after you bring your baby home. For any problem with your baby, ask your physician for help if you feel there is something wrong.

Early bonding with your baby creates 'golden hour'

The first few minutes after birth are a magical time for bonding with baby.

“I think for a lot of moms, it’s finally that moment where they can just breathe, and at least for me, when I held our first, it was like, you know, this was nine months of not knowing what this child looked like, what they felt like, and finally I can feel that,” said Dr. Michelle Schimelpfenig, a pediatrician at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Research has shown that what happens during the first 60 minutes of a baby’s life, which is often referred to as the golden hour, can maximize the bonding between mother and child.

“The golden hour is very beneficial and critical for even years down the road between both mom and baby. It’s super helpful to stabilize the newborn coming out of utero, as well as bonding,” said Tenelle Choal, a certified nurse-midwife at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls.

Bonding with baby a priority

In the past, bonding with baby often took a back seat to medical procedures. New moms watched their babies being handed to a nurse for examination, cleaning and other details. After all the waiting, the new parents would finally get to hold their baby.

Health care providers now know there’s a better way to spend the first 60 minutes of life.

“Every situation is a little bit different, but in the perfect situation where everything has gone well, baby would be delivered and then immediately baby would go onto mom’s chest and they would do skin-to-skin,” said Dr. Schimelpfenig.

Many hospitals and birthing centers now encourage parents to wait at least an hour before introducing baby to family and friends. Instead, they encourage mother and baby to stay together and, if desired, focus on giving the newborn a chance to breastfeed.

Skin-to-skin contact and the baby’s suckling at the breast brings benefits to mom and baby.

“For baby, it helps for thermal regulation, or a fancy term for helping baby regulate temperature, as well as stabilizing blood sugar,” said Choal. “And then for mom, it helps mom produce hormones that help her to breastfeed and produce milk, as well as decrease stress and anxiety and depression for her.”

As a certified nurse midwife, Choal said she also sees less crying and fussiness with infants that have experienced the golden hour. Research shows these infants also have a history of better sleep quality, growth and breastfeeding rates.

Finding ways to bond

Conventional procedures such as weighing, measuring, bathing, injections or blood tests should wait until after the first feeding, according to Dr. Schimelpfenig.

Even in cases where medical emergencies may change a family’s birth plan, it is possible to take advantage of bonding time in the first few minutes. If a baby needs medical attention or extra stimulation to start breathing, the child can be moved from the exam table to the mother’s chest as soon as the baby is stabilized.

Women who have a planned or unplanned cesarean section may need to wait a few moments to be able to hold the baby. In most cases, after a quick assessment, nurses can move the baby to the mother’s chest. The baby can stay at her mother’s side until she is settled into the recovery room and ready to nurse.

Golden hour benefits for mom and baby

During labor and the minutes and hours afterward, the mother’s body experiences several amazing changes. Giving birth generates changes in a woman’s brain chemistry that increases desire to nurture.

Dr. Schimelpfenig said establishing breastfeeding early on will support good milk supply within the first week. This helps infants regain birth weight and lessens the chance of other health issues.

“If we can work to get nursing established, to have successful breastfeeding, to have ample milk supply, then mom’s milk will come in eventually. And that will really help mitigate or decrease bilirubin (a substance in the blood that can cause newborn jaundice), because the more the baby eats, the more they poop, the more they pee, the more that it flushes out the bilirubin,” she said.

Most hospitals and birthing centers encourage breastfeeding because it protects against certain diseases later into life as well.

“Breastfeeding is great. Current research shows 13 weeks of breastfeeding protects against gastroenteritis for approximately seven years. Four months of breastfeeding protects against ear infections for three years. Fifteen weeks of breastfeeding protects against respiratory infections for seven years, and six months of breastfeeding can protect against Hodgkin’s disease,” said Choal.

Any amount of breastfeeding is shown to protect against wheezing and bronchitis for six to seven years, and it protects against Hib meningitis for up to 10 years.

Expectant mothers should talk with family members and medical staff about their plans for the minutes after birth.

“I think that there is enough research and studies to prove that (the golden hour) is something worth fighting for. And I think from a hospital culture standpoint, you will find most hospitals are going towards as much skin-to-skin and as minimal amount of interventions as we can within the first hour,” said Dr. Schimelpfenig.

Learn more

The importance of skin-to-skin with baby after delivery
Learn secrets for an easier labor and delivery
What to consider when planning where to have your baby

…

Posted In Children's, Pregnancy, Sioux Falls, Women's

90,000 error 404-Charity Fund "Life Road"

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Method Method:

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Sberbank-Online

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Online on Saithitsberbank-Ronolin-Ronolin donation Tinkoff-mobile

3 000 ₽

By filling out this form, you accept the terms of the offer.

I give you permission to send me letters

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In Sberbank Online , select the tab Payments , then Other and in the line that appears, enter the name Road of Life .

Please make a note when translating.

Sorry, donations to charities cannot be made using the iOS mobile app. This is Apple's policy. But you can always make a transfer through the web version of Sberbank Online, any branch or ATM of Sberbank.

Send an SMS message with the text YOU NEED or MY PEOPLE (space) the donation amount to the short number 3434.

In Tinkoff mobile further text is needed

Charitable Foundation for orphans and children left without parental care, "Road of Life"

1. Settlement account with Sberbank of Russia

TIN and KPP FUND	9705081012 / 770501001
PSRN	1167700073530
Settlement account	40703.810.8.38000008445
Bank	PJSC SBERBANK, MOSCOW
BIC	044525225
Corr. account	30101810400000000225
Executive Director	Kotelnikova Anna Sergeevna acts on the basis of Charter

ATTACHMENT: HOW IT AFFECTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD

PUBLIC OFFER ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GONNA CHARITY ACTIVITIES (DONATIONS)

General Provisions

1. 1. This public offer (hereinafter referred to as the “Offer”) is an offer by the Worthy Citizen Charitable Foundation represented by Executive Director Alexander Leonidovich Viktorov, acting on the basis of the Charter (hereinafter referred to as the “Beneficial Recipient”), to conclude an agreement on the implementation of gratuitous charitable activities on the conditions indicated below ( donations) (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) with any capable individual or legal entity that has responded to such an offer (hereinafter referred to as the “Philanthropist”).

1.2. The Beneficiary is a non-profit charitable organization established in the form of a foundation, operating on the basis of the Charter, has the necessary rights to receive a Donation in the interests of carrying out its statutory activities.

1.3. This Offer is a public offer in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 437 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Making a Donation to the Beneficiary is considered an acceptance of this Offer on the conditions specified below.

1.4. The Beneficiary is ready to conclude donation agreements in a different manner and (or) on other conditions than provided for in the Offer, for which any interested person has the right to apply to the Beneficiary to conclude the relevant agreement.

Subject of the Agreement:

2.1. The Benefactor voluntarily and disinterestedly (free of charge) in the procedure for making a charitable donation transfers funds to the Beneficiary in the amount determined by the Benefactor (hereinafter referred to as the "Donation"). The fact of transferring the donation indicates the full consent of the Benefactor with the terms of this agreement.

2.2. The Beneficiary accepts the Donation and undertakes to use the funds received from the Donor under this Agreement strictly in accordance with the current legislation and within the framework of the statutory activities.

2.3. The place of conclusion of the contract is the city of Moscow. In accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 434 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the contract is considered concluded in writing.

Transfer order Donations and other conditions:

3.1. The Benefactor independently determines the amount of the Donation and pays it to the Beneficiary in any convenient way indicated on the official website of the Beneficiary www.blago-dg.ru (hereinafter referred to as the "official website").

3.2. The Benefactor can make a donation through the bank using the Beneficiary's details, including through the personal account on the website of the Donor's bank; use the electronic payment system by making a donation with a credit card or electronic cash; write off funds from the mobile phone account or send SMS messages. The document confirming the making of the Donation is a message sent by the Beneficiary or his paying agent to the contact details of the Benefactor, specified by him when making the Donation, or a mark on the execution of the payment order in the Benefactor's bank.

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ward, the Benefactor has the right to use such additional amounts of Donations to assist other wards of the Beneficiary. If the donation transfer method chosen by the Benefactor does not allow specifying the “purpose of payment”, the Benefactor has the right to clarify the purpose of the donation by sending an e-mail to the Benefactor [email protected]

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5.1. By accepting the Offer, the Benefactor - an individual gives the Beneficiary consent and the right to process the personal data of the Benefactor (last name, first name, patronymic, address, place of residence, mobile phone number, email address, bank details) in order to fulfill obligations arising from or in connection with conclusion of the Agreement, including the following actions: collection, recording, systematization, accumulation, storage, clarification (updating, changing), extraction, use, transfer (distribution, provision, access), depersonalization, blocking, deletion, destruction of personal data.

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5.4. Consent to the processing of personal data is valid for 3 (three) years from the date of its provision. Such consent may be withdrawn by the Benefactor at any time by sending a written notice to the Beneficiary at least 5 working days before the expected date of withdrawal of such consent.

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