Understanding the Benefits of Skin-to-Skin Contact for Better Sleep
Skin-to-skin contact has long been known to have a calming effect on babies, particularly when paired with breast-feeding. Recent studies suggest that contact between a mother and her baby can have a profound effect on the latter’s sleep quality too. It can especially benefit premature and full-term infants alike in ensuring that they sleep well for reasonable periods of time.
Research suggests that when a mother holds her baby skin-to-skin, both their heart rates become more synchronized, helping the baby to easily fall asleep. When infants experience skin-to-skin contact, their cortisol levels also decrease, resulting in lower stress and anxiety levels.
Apart from being instrumental in better sleep, skin-to-skin contact also encourages the production of oxytocin in females. This in turn helps reduce postpartum depression, breastfeeding problems and emotional problems down the road.
Benefits for Premature Babies
Research suggests that skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her premature baby has an especially beneficial effect. It could help reduce the incidence of newborn problems such as jaundice. Additionally, studies show that skin-to-skin contact also helps premature babies to better regulate their breathing and temperature. Furthermore, it helps to develop neuroprotective systems that protect the newborn against physical and mental stress.
During the first few weeks of a premature baby’s life, the mother’s presence through skin-to-skin contact can reduce irritability and stimulate development of the vital neural circuitry necessary for responding to stress. Additionally, premature babies can hinder bacterial colonization, thereby reducing the risk of infection.
Benefits for Full-Term Babies
It is imperative to realize that relatively full-term babies also reap various advantages from skin-to-skin contact. It helps both mother and baby to fall asleep faster and stay asleep for longer. It helps babies to remain calm and soothe easily which in turn, promotes better sleep. Furthermore, this contact also diminishes the crying bouts and makes the baby more interactive with the mother.
When the mother interacts with the baby skin-to-skin, the newborn’s tension and discomfort levels are reduced. It also helps the baby adjust to both food intake and sleep patterns better by assisting in the organization of the baby’s body clock. Moreover, studies also show that skin-to-skin contact helps with an increase in breastfeeding duration and reduces excessive weight loss in newborns.
Skin-to-skin contact also promotes the release of the hormones prolactin and oxytocin, which help in better milk production and other such benefits.
Benefits for the Mother
Apart from helping the baby, mother-baby skin-to-skin contact also has a range of advantages for the mother. A mother who has regular skin-to-skin contact with her baby is likely to cope better with establishing exclusive breastfeeding habits with her baby. This contact also reduces the postpartum depression suffered by many new mothers.
It also helps the mother bond better with her baby and therefore, helps develop the infant-parent relationship. Moreover, this type of contact assists in developing confidence among new mothers by allowing them to get acquainted with the response and behavior of their baby.
Conclusion
Apart from helping babies to sleep better, skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her baby also has many other important benefits. This type of contact reduces stress levels, boosts breastfeeding and helps both mother and baby bond together. Moreover, it also helps premature and full-term babies immensely by stimulating growth and development, reducing the risk of infection and increasing overall regulation (temperature, weight, etc.).