WBW: First Feeding in the First Hour

This year’s World Breastfeeding Week theme is to encourage the practice of mothers breastfeeding immediately after birth. Especially in hospital situations, when a baby is born people start doing things — suctioning, swaddling, measuring, medicating, warming, etc. All of those things CAN wait and its usually most beneficial if they do (barring emergencies, of course.) For example, skin to skin contact between baby and mom is more effective at warming babies than being swaddled (a blanket can be placed over baby and mom to hold in the heat.) Most babies do not benefit from being suctioned (only those having difficulty breathing.) If you elect to do things such as eye ointment or vitamin k injections, they can wait for an hour or more. When newborns are first born, they are typically more alert than they will be for the first day or so, and it’s usually easiest to get them to latch on then it will be later. Also, did you know that newborns can crawl and find their mother’s breasts? They lose this instinct very quickly, but its there! The videos are pretty amazing. So, in overview, those first few feedings of colostrum are so important for the health of newborns, initiating them quickly ought to be a routine practice. When you are doing your birth plan, remember to consider what will happen after the birth, and talk to your care provider about how you would like to breastfeed immediately.