Skin-to-Skin is placing your baby belly-down, directly on your chest, right after your baby is born.

Why is it important?

By doing so, you and your baby will get to bond through the sense of touch and smell. It also helps your baby have:

• Stable and normal skin temperature
• Stable and normal heart rate and blood pressure
• Stable blood sugar

In addition, your baby may cry less, latch on to the breast better and exclusively breastfeed longer.

Because of Skin-to-Skin, you and your baby may receive health benefits, including:

• The opportunity to snuggle, giving you and your baby the best start for breastfeeding
• Better breastfeeding
• Warmth and comfort
• Bonding, which soothes and makes breastfeeding easier 

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that your baby have a diet of purely breast milk for the first 6 months of life — no other food or drink is needed.

For more information, please contact one of our birth planners.