La Libertad, Negros Oriental - The term "skin-to-skin contact" typically refers to the practice of drying the newborn and placing him or her on the mother's bare chest following delivery. Both mother and child are then covered with a warm blanket and left for at least an hour or until the infant has had his or her first feed. Additionally, skin-to-skin contact can be made whenever a baby needs soothing or comfort and if there is a need to increase the mother's milk production. Skin-to-skin contact is also referred to as "kangaroo care”, known to improve physical and developmental results for the newborn while fostering parent-child relationship. It also promotes women in starting nursing and forming a close, loving bond with her infant while also assisting babies in adjusting to life outside the womb.

An increasing amount of research shows that having skin-to-skin contact with newborns and their moms is beneficial. The practice provides such benefits including:

• Calms and relaxes both mother and infant,
• Regulates the infant's respiration and heart rate to help them adjust to life outside the womb,
• Increases appetite and digestive activity,
• Regulates body temperature,
• Enables the mother's friendly bacteria to colonize the baby's skin, thus providing protection against infection, and
• Stimulates the release of hormones to support breastfeeding

Maintaining body temperature is essential for baby’s good health. Newborn babies don’t have the ability to keep themselves warm, but there is a process known as thermoregulation. Thermoregulation allows the body to maintain its main temperature, even when environmental temperature changes. Through skin-to-skin contact, the mother’s breasts automatically warm the baby up, similar to when baby was still in the womb. Newborns that have skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth are likely to breastfeed within the first hour. As a result, the mother’s prolactin level rises. Prolactin is a hormone that is critical in maintaining a strong milk supply. Hence, this practice is important to the mother and her infant after birth to increase the chance of breastfeeding. Skin-to-skin contact is indeed beneficial to both the mother and her child. // ND II Chutsvieka May Pacatang, RND