How much touch does an infant need?
The first physical contact, skin-to-skin contact, takes place immediately after birth, when the newborn baby is placed on the mother's stomach. This is the most important skin-to-skin contact for the baby. I will tell you about the ‘golden hour’ and the importance of the very first skin-to-skin contact in detail later.
Next comes breastfeeding. And it is a very tactile process. Caring for a child is accompanied by touch: carrying, rocking, dressing, bathing. In the first year of life, children perceive the world through sensations, and the role of tactile touch and skin-to-skin contact is huge:
- When babies are born, their brain is little structured. With experience, sensory stimulation and developing motor skills, the brain becomes more structured. Neurons, nerve cells connect into pathways, into ‘tracks’. That is, with every touch, every smile, every interaction, the brain develops.
- Helps the baby to adapt better to the environment.
- It has a beneficial effect on the process of breastfeeding, both on the side of the mother and the baby.
- Triggers instinctive interaction between baby and mum.
- Allows the baby's skin to be colonised with ‘friendly’ bacteria from mum's skin.
- Reducing the risk of infections.
- Releases a range of hormones that are beneficial to mum and baby.
- Is a great way to form attachment.
- Helps parents to be more responsive to their baby's needs.
- Babies who are carried a lot in their arms cry less.
- Better weight gain.
- Further beneficial effects on stress regulation, emotional, motor and cognitive development.
- Reduces pain in mum and baby.
- Helps with baby's body self-regulation (breathing, heartbeat, temperature regulation, increased blood flow in baby's skin).
As the child grows older, there will be body and contact play, reading books when the child is near or sitting in your arms, cuddles, massages. The need for touch is still present in older children.
And I would say this need does not disappear in adulthood. Remember yourself in strong emotions, sadness, grief, longing and how it becomes easier when someone will stay with us and hug us.
When hugging, the hormone oxytocin is released (it is also important for lactation). And oxytocin isn't "a friend" of the stress hormone cortisol. Either one or the other dominates in the body. So cuddling reduces stress regardless of age. And for babies, whose self-regulation of emotions and nervous system are not yet so developed, this is even more important.
And touch is one of the languages of love. This is how people perceive that they are heard, loved, understood and that they are important. We are different. Some are more tactile, some less. But one thing is clear: touch plays an important role in our lives. And for babies, it is even more important, and there should be a lot of it. For a sense of security, for the development of the nervous system and regulation of the body, for the formation of relationships, and yes, for a more successful establishment of the breastfeeding process.
You can find out even more evidence-based information about successful breastfeeding start and the first weeks with infant during the 1.5-hour online consultation for parents-to-be.
A great opportunity to prepare for the baby's arrival or to give as a gift to parents-to-be!
Sources:
Brimdyr. 2023. Skin-to-skin contact after birth: developing a research and practice guideline.
Föhe, 2000. Skin-to-skin contact improves gas exchange in premature infants.
Gray, 2000. Skin-to-skin contact is analgesic in healthy newborns.
Handlin, 2009. Effects of sucking and skin-to-skin contact on maternal ACTH and cortisol levels during the second day postpartum-influence of epidural analgesia and oxytocin in the perinatal period.
Karimi, 2019. The effect of mother-infant skin to skin contact on success and duration of first breastfeeding: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Ludington-Hoe, 2015. Skin-to-Skin Contact: A Comforting Place With Comfort Food.
Moore, 2012. Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants.
Moore, 2016. Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants.
Safari, 2018. The effect of mother and newborn early skin-to-skin contact on initiation of breastfeeding, newborn temperature and duration of third stage of labor.
Uvnäs-Moberg & Prime, 2013. Oxytocin effects in mothers and infants during breastfeeding.
Uvnäs-Moberg, 2015. Self-soothing behaviors with particular reference to oxytocin release induced by non-noxious sensory stimulation.
Vittner, 2018. Increase in oxytocin from skin-to-skin contact enhances development of parent-infant relationship.
Widström, 2019. Skin‐to‐skin contact the first hour after birth, underlying implications and clinical practice.
World Health Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, 2009. Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: Revised, updated, and expanded for integrated care.
Author of the article: Aleksandra Ņekrasova
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