There is no doubt that skin to skin care for a newborn has many benefits. It is usually seen in association with mother and child. It is confirmed in many researches that by holding the baby to the chest immediately after birth, their body temperature, heart rate and breathing are kept under control. ‘Skin to skin care’ is also known as ‘kangaroo care’.
Do you know that not only the mother but also the father can do skin to skin care (kangaroo care) of the child. This will not only increase the affection between the father and the child, but there will be many health related benefits to the newborn, which will be known in detail in the article.
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What is Skin to Skin Care (Kangaroo Care)?
For the first few days after the baby is born, the mother is asked to spend skin to skin time with the baby. In this, the mother keeps the child by her chest for a few hours. During this, the baby is simply kept wearing a diaper and there is skin to skin contact between the mother and the child. This increases the love between mother and child. In addition, there are many benefits to the health of the newborn.
Importance of Skin to Skin Contact
Within a few hours of birth, with the help of skin to skin care (kangaroo care) with the mother, the child forms a deep bond with the mother. Talking about the benefits of skin-to-skin contact, it increases the ability of the baby to breastfeed. It supports the immune system of the baby. It also plays an important role in improving cognitive development in them.
In a research, it is found that with the help of skin to skin care (Kangaroo care), the mortality rate of children with low birth weight was found to be reduced. Not only this, the risk of serious infection and disease in newborns was found to be low. Considering these benefits, Kangaroo Routine is famous all over the world.
With kangaroo care, a bond is formed between mother and child from the very beginning. But, did you know that fathers can also resort to kangaroo routines? According to another research, skin to skin care by the father also gives the same benefits to the baby as they get from taking care of the kangaroo by the mother. Hence, even the father should not hesitate to spend skin to skin time with the child. In the next part of the article, we will learn about the benefits of kangaroo care for the baby by the father.
Benefits of Skin to Skin Care With Daddy
There is a deep bond with the emotional connection being formed between the newborn and the father through skin-to-skin contact. Further in the article let’s take a look at the benefits of kangaroo care, benefits for the baby by the father.
1. Skin to Skin Care: Better Bonding with Father
Babies stay in the mother’s womb for nine months. During this a bonding takes place between mother and child. The baby begins to recognize the mother’s voice and heartbeat. Skin to skin contact is considered the best for the father to bond with the child.
Oxytocin, the love hormone, is released by the father holding the baby skin to skin. This creates a natural bond between father and child. Not only this, according to a research, skin to skin care has a caring nature of the father. It also lowers the level of cortisol, which causes stress in the father. Reducing the level of stress and anxiety has a positive effect on the relationship with the child.
2. Baby gets Warmth and Comfort
One advantage of skin-to-skin is to warm the baby. It has a soothing effect on the baby. Babies who get skin to skin care cry less. During the winter, it makes the child less likely to catch pneumonia and cold. This is the reason why dads are asked to touch the baby skin to skin for an hour daily.
3. Improves Physical Development of the Child
Many researches confirm that children receiving kangaroo care have better physical development than other children. This keeps the baby’s breathing, heart rate and sugar level stable.
You must have read and heard many times that the immune system of the child gets boosted by the mother taking care of the baby kangaroo. But you will be surprised to know that even with kangaroo care by the father, the immune system of the child is strengthened. In fact, skin-to-skin contact passes antibodies through the father’s skin to the baby, which helps protect the baby from many diseases.
4. Skin to Skin Care: Helps in Brain Development
When the father holds the baby by his chest, the necessary neural pathways develop in the baby. This leads to rapid brain development. In addition, Kangaroo Care helps your baby sleep better and deeper. This reduces stress in the baby. It enhances organizational patterns in the brain.
5. Skin to Skin Care: Helps in Weight Gain
Kangaroo care lowers the level of cortisol and somatostatin in the baby. This results in better absorption of nutrients along with reducing the chances of gastrointestinal problems in the baby. Due to the deficiency of these hormones, the body of the baby preserves the brown fat (the healthy fat present in the body in the baby at the time of birth). This helps in maintaining the baby’s body temperature along with the birth weight. By getting body to body care, the baby does not need to burn the stored fat in the body to warm the body. As a result, the weight of the baby increases.
Hopefully, after reading this article, you must have come to know very well that not only the mother but also the father can also take care of the baby’s skin to skin. Then what are you thinking, you should also take care of the baby kangaroo and build a strong relationship with them.
