4 Benefits of The "Golden Hour"
You’ve waited 9 long months and have finally birthed your beautiful baby; the moments immediately post birth play a vital role in your baby’s temperature regulation, delayed cord clamping, breastfeeding and attachment between you and your baby. Studies have shown that when mothers and their babies are left uninterrupted for the Golden Hour post birth, babies are able to transition from womb to earth side better.
- Temperature Regulation
If you’re hot you sweat to cool down and when you’re cold you shiver to stay warm however for babies when they’re first born, they are not able to regulate their temperature like us, making them more vulnerable to hypothermia. Once babies are born, they are going from a warm environment inside the womb to a cool temperature outside of the womb, having babies’ skin to skin not only keeps them warm but also helps them to regulate their own temperature.
- Delayed Cord Clamping
For most health care professionals, it is regular practice to provide delayed cord clamping for up to 60 seconds, as long as the baby is well and doesn’t require any breathing assistance immediately post-birth. Within that one minute of delayed cord clamping your baby would receive about 60% of their blood from the placenta and after three minutes this increases to roughly 90%. If you do choose to wait until three minutes, there is a slight increase in risk of your baby developing jaundice due to the increase of bilirubin in the liver. In the Positive Birth Program, I discuss how to use your BRAIN to make decisions around your care.
- Breastfeeding
The first feed is usually done within the Golden Hour as it helps establish breastfeeding and build that attachment between you and your baby. Breastfeeding within this time frame also helps your placenta to detach from your uterus with the help of oxytocin. When babies are born, placed skin to skin and not disturbed, they will instinctively start to make their way to their mothers’ breast and attach themselves to the nipple, this is known as the ‘breast crawl’.
- Mother – Baby Attachment
Immediately post birth a rush of oxytocin (the love hormone) is released helping to cement that bond between you and your baby. Your smell and the sound of your voice is familiar and comforting to your baby, using that golden hour to help calm and reassure your baby, not only builds that connection between you both but also assists them to adjust to the world outside the womb.
The Golden Hour post birth is such a special and crucial time in both you and your baby’s life. If you and your baby are well, request to have uninterrupted skin to skin time with your baby and ask that procedures such as the weight and length to be done once you have had that time to bond.