Uninterrupted Mother-Son Tie Part I

One of the most important missions during a natural delivery consists in to make sure the close contact between the mother and her newborn.

Just immediately after the birth, even before the moment when we cut the umbilical cord, begins their mutual relationship which will be decisive to them during all the life.

Is absolutely necessary to create the conditions and give peace to the mother. The silence is crucial, not much light and to provide the initial contact.

The baby is placed softly just he birth, still humid on the naked mother´s belly. Immediately begins their visual and physical contact between them.
Both, believe me, talk! The newborn babbles and converses with her mother.

They touch and caress each other. We invite the mother and her couple to dry the baby, maintaining him or her always in direct contact with her belly, skin to skin. This contact assures the transfer by irradiation of the high mother´s temperature to the baby, saving him stress and energy so important for his initial adaptation.

After a couple of minutes, when the umbilical cord stops their beats, we proceed to cut it. This procedure is absolutely imperceptible to both of them: the baby and her mother.

Once we cut the umbilical cord is easier to the mother to approach the baby and place him (her) on her chest, which in women is endowed with a very high temperature and the newborn can easily hear the mother´s heart beats, which will bring him security and peace for all his life.

Mother´s heart beats strong and quickly due to her recently ended big effort.
We encourage the mother to speak with her baby, to dry him and to approach him to her breasts.

The newborn do not need to suck up yet. He sucks a bit and enjoys. He feels her mother´s odor which is for him so familiar, as well as he (she) listen her mother´s and father´s voice so well-known to him (her).

All these events should happen in silence. We should keep the deepest respect to them in these so decisive minutes.

While all these moments are happening, we make a courteous and watchful look, observing the baby´s adaptation process to the extra uterine life. We are located in some distance of them.

With these quiet moments, some minutes later arrive the moment of the placental birthing. The placenta appears softly.
We show the placenta always to the parents. This act give her the possibility to better understand and to visualize the internal ambient in which was her baby before the birth.

We ask her some minutes and make carefully and meticulous baby´s examination.

This procedure do make the Pediatrician or we, maintaining always the newborn in skin to skin contact with her belly. We take advantage of this moment to clean, to cut and fix the clamp of the remainder umbilical cord. After a few days the clamp and the remainder cord will fall.

We ask the mother her permission to weigh the baby, taking care of her continuous glance to him.

We make a carefully placental inspection being sure of her complete integrity as well as the well uterine retraction.

Occasionally we must suture some lacerations and normally we make it with local anesthesia in some minutes with the baby preferably in mother´s hands.
Al these events normally take some 20-30 minutes.

After we clean the mother gently we propose her to rest in this intimate ambient, preferably with mild light in her room together with her child. During these first two hours we must be sure about the suitable womb retraction and the beginning of the breast feeding.

This can be the appropriate moment in which the rest of the family congratulate the mother and meet the child.

This is the real task we think about in each birth. We can say that always results marvelous!

Dr. Rodrigo Aybar
Dra. Graciela A. de Aybar