HealthPartners - Your guide to pregnancy

Once your baby is born and their airway is checked, the care team will dry them with a towel and place the baby directly onto your chest, then cover you both with a warm blanket. Having your unwrapped baby lying directly on your skin is called skin-to-skin contact. This initial snuggling keeps your baby warm and gives you and your baby time to get acquainted and begin bonding.

AFTER THE BIRTH

Your health care team will look over your baby. The Apgar score is a quick and simple evaluation that is used to evaluate your baby’s well-being at birth. It is done at 1 minute after birth and again at 5 minutes after birth. Scoring is done by assigning points (0, 1, 2) for heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, response to stimulus, and skin color. Scores of 7 to 10 are considered normal, although a 10 is rare. Babies born with scores lower than 7 may need special observation or care for a short time after birth.

BENEFITS OF SKIN-TO-SKIN

According to the AAP, the best start for breastfeeding is when a baby is kept skin-to-skin immediately after birth, until the first feeding has finished, or for as

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long as you want to keep your baby there. The baby’s sense of smell allows them to find your breast to begin the initial latch-on. Research has shown that babies placed skin-to-skin after birth will breastfeed better and be able to stay awake during feeding. These babies are also more likely to exclusively breastfeed. No matter how you plan to feed your baby, skin-to-skin is a best practice for all babies. Benefits include: • Soothing and calming both you and your baby • Helping babies regulate their temperature,

CUTTING THE CORD When the flow of blood from the placenta to the baby has stopped or you have delivered the placenta, your baby’s umbilical cord will be clamped and cut. Because there are no nerve fibers in the cord, the cut is painless. Here’s what happens: • A small plastic clamp is placed at the base of the umbilical cord • Another clamp is placed on the cord to mark the area to be cut • The cord is then cut using a pair of sterilized scissors

heart rate, breathing, and blood sugar • Enhancing bonding and supporting breastfeeding • Helping your uterus contract to pre-pregnancy size

NEED TO KNOW

If you delivered a preterm baby or experienced any problems during labor, the care team may evaluate the baby under a warming light before deciding whether to place them on your chest.

56 Your Guide to A Healthy Pregnancy