Skin To Skin Contact Essay

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When babies are delivered in the hospital, there is a usual sequence of events that happen to ensure a safe and successful delivery. The mother goes into labor, healthcare professionals prepare themselves and the mother to deliver the baby and finally after minutes or hours of coaching and appropriate exercises the baby is born and introduced to their new environment. Before the parents can have any contact with the newborn, nurses will characteristically whisk the baby away to check for presence of important reflexes, abnormalities, and wipe away the birth materials such as vernix. After completion of these required tasks, the baby is then presented to the parents wrapped up like a shiny, new gift on Christmas day. Sometimes the baby and …show more content…

A procedure called “heel lancing” is when the physician takes a sample of blood from the infant’s heel and then is used to complete tests on the infant to check lab values and harmful conditions. (Vedder 2015) Heel lancing often causes pain to the baby and may increase the amount of time spent crying and raise the baby’s heart rate. Per Gray, Watt, and Blass (2000) a good way to soothe the child and provide comfort is skin to skin contact. In this study, it was noted that skin to skin contact reduced time spent crying, grimacing, and heart rate. (Gray, L., Watt, L., & Blass, E. 2000) What I found to be the most important in this study is the length of time the infants who received skin to skin contact cried and their heart rates, compared to infants who did not. Infants held by their mother in skin to skin contact cried and grimaced for an average of one to two seconds. (Gray, L., Watt, L & Blass, E., 2000) The infants who did not receive the skin to skin contact cried on average for thirty-two seconds. (Gray, L., Watt, L & Blass, E., 2000) This data helps to illustrate how important the skin to skin contact is and how strongly in influences the newborn’s wellbeing and

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