By María Zerecero
Some of you may already know what it means, but for me it was something I learned when I had my second baby , a girl.
Some of you may already know what it means, but for me it was something I learned when I had my second baby , a girl.
For this, let 's start by explaining what the golden, golden or sacred hour is . This “hour” refers to the first 60 to 120 minutes of a newborn's life. In addition , it is the first moment where the naked newborn comes into direct contact with the mother 's skin , which provides many benefits!
But why did n't I know anything about this and did n't find out until I had my second baby ?
Here I begin to tell you a little about how it has been lost and why it is important to bring back the golden hour.
Our ancestors used to have births at home , where they were usually accompanied by family and a midwife . Although the father in some cases accompanied the mother at the time of delivery, they normally stayed outside or in the next room waiting . How lucky that that has already changed ! But let's not deviate , having births at home the golden hour was respected, the baby was given to the mother immediately , coming into skin -to- skin contact .
All this began to change when births became hospitalized, more or less at the beginning of the 20th century, with the aim of having fewer deaths of mother and baby - which was a success ! - . However, they began to create new practices where they separated the baby from its mother at birth.
Now my story: Before my first child was born , as a good first-time mother I read many books . M mmm , let's face it , I read some books, not many. Although even reading all the books I was not even remotely prepared for what was coming . These books were to inform me about what was happening to me during the pregnancy, what the birth was going to be like and what it would be like afterwards , when you bring a baby home. Also take a prenatal course. But the curious thing about all this is that the golden hour was never mentioned , neither in the course , nor in the book.
When my son was born , the first thing that happened was that they wrapped him , and they handed him to me for a couple of minutes so I could see him . A fter those first very special minutes , here it goes : they cleaned it , they measured it, they weighed it . Then they put it on a table under lights so bright it looked like rotisserie chicken in my opinion . Oh, I forgot, they also asked me if I wanted to be circumcised.
After all that , they finally handed my baby over to me so he could have his first breastfeed. I grabbed it in what I thought was a good position. Ouchhhh! How it hurt me ! During the next feedings the same thing continued to happen to me, it hurt a lot every time I ate and my baby just cried. The nurses taught me different positions so the baby could eat , in the end I found a position that was not so painful and I continued doing it . At first he really suffered every time he wanted to eat, but after a week my baby and I adapted and I breastfed him for a whole year .
In general, I did not like the entire birth experience with my first baby . Not the doctor, not the hospital, not the birth process . So when I found out that I was pregnant for the second time, I started looking for everything from scratch, doctor, hospital ... In this search, I came across a doctor who was much more in tune with what I was looking for, although this doctor only worked at a single hospital. I felt a little disappointed at not being able to have options, but when I took the online guided tour of the hospital (there were no in-person visits due to COVID) I liked it and was struck by the fact that they put a lot of emphasis on the first hour of a baby 's life and the procedures they did during it . That's when I first saw the term GOLDEN HOUR and I loved it ! So I started to find out in depth what it was about .
From what I found out , I found the following:
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends in its 2012 report: "Newborns who do not have complications should be in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers for the first hour after birth to prevent hypothermia and to promote Breastfeeding ".
The baby , at birth, is born in an active or alert state due to survival function . All this is due to the combination of stress hormones that the mother transmits to the baby 's blood through the umbilical cord and the passage of the baby 's head through the vaginal canal . This stress will be resolved with the stimulation caused by skin-to-skin contact . Moments later something very typical and interesting happens : the baby sucks his hands , which are full of amniotic fluid and through smell he knows what to look for. As? Colostrum smells exactly the same. The baby , with movements similar to those used to crawl, pushes his legs towards the mother's chest. Once he finds it , the baby begins to nod and open his mouth to “fish ” for the nipple , and after a few attempts , he manages to get a grip and start sucking .
In summary, the immediate benefits of the golden hour are the following :
✓ Helps regulate the baby's temperature .
✓ Helps the baby maintain blood sugar levels .
✓ Helps calm the baby's breathing and heart rate .
✓ Helps the baby recover from labor and delivery .
✓ Minimizes stress and separation anxiety in the newborn baby .
✓ The baby cries less .
✓ Helps initiate breastfeeding and encourages the baby's feeding instinct .
✓ Stimulates the mother's milk supply .
✓ Transfers the protection of bacteria from the mother's skin to the baby .
✓ Provides additional protection and may be beneficial in reducing eczema and some allergies .
✓ It may be beneficial to prevent postnatal depression .
✓ Help mom and baby get to know each other .
Back to my story. When my daughter was born , it was in a completely different environment than my son. Starting from the hospital. My birth room had a rocking chair, a chair with a ball seat , etc ... so I could have the best birth experience and the moments afterward .
When my daughter was born , they immediately put her to my breast, and she began to do everything she had read on her own. Little by little he began to “crawl” to the chest to be able to eat . What a difference ! The latch was natural, painless , she ate and fell asleep immediately afterwards . The nurses waited about an hour to weigh her, measure her and other procedures. The next feedings were the same, she latched on perfectly , without pain , and fell asleep . To date I have been breastfeeding successfully.
I don't know if it's a coincidence , but my daughter cried less from the beginning during her first months of life . I was calmer, I slept better . I am sure that there are other factors why the experience with her has been “ easier ” but I am convinced that having respected the golden hour helped her to have that behavior during the following months.
You lose nothing in exi girla in the hospital and you can gain a lot in return.
Maria