03/10/2025
The theme of National Breastfeeding Week 2025 - ‘Hold me Close: the Power of skin-to-skin contacts. Happy National Breastfeeding week to all mamas , parents , and mamas to be . Well done on your journey so far where ever that may be today . We’re you supported to do skin to skin beyond the first hour in hospital ?Let me know in the comments below .
There’s no limit to the amount of contact and affection a human infant can receive; in fact, humans thrive on touch. The more an infant experiences this, the better they develop. When a baby lacks these sensations, they resort to their natural survival instinct, which is crying. This crying can trigger the release of cortisol, a stress hormone, in an effort to gain the parents’ attention. One hour of skin to skin can reduce stress for your baby by 75%. “When placed skin-to-skin on the mother’s chest, the baby receives warmth, protection and food and the brain can develop optimally. The mother’s skin is the baby’s natural environment, and both physically and emotionally the healthiest place for the baby to be.(Bergman 2016)