By Modia Batterjee

Many Mammals show that early contact with their young soon after birth holds an important place in the protection of motherly behavior. There is increasingly proof that this is also true in humans. Mary Kroeger, a nurse midwife and lactation specialist, stated in her paper prepared for World Alliance for Breast-feeding Action (WABA) that:

The partnership of mother and baby is genetically programmed to support the physical, hormonal, and emotional events of pregnancy, labor, birth, and initiation of breast-feeding. The new mother is immediately ready to care for her newborn – to provide warmth, nourishment, and to protect her baby from harm and infection, just as occurred inside her womb.  Initiating breast-feeding is easiest and most successful when a mother is physically and psychologically prepared for birth and breast-feeding.

Nowadays, a healthy newborn human is most likely to be separated from his or her mother for sometimes up to days waiting for the mother’s milk to be produced. During this waiting period the baby is supplemented by artificial formula unnecessarily. This practice is seen both in traditional and modern settings. It is likely harmful for breast feeding and in the end for bonding, which is important for the development of a healthy mother-baby relationship.

Evidence shows that early skin to skin contact (with in thirty minutes after birth) of mother and baby can positively influence this bonding.

Close observance of 10 infants immediately after birth by Windstorm and 38 infants by Righard and Alade, found that non-sedated infants follow an expected pre-feeding behavior pattern. This behavior was seen when the infant was held on the mother’s chest right after birth. The infant’s crawling to the mother’s breast begins 12 – 44 minutes, then natural suckling with good attachment between 27 – 71 minutes.

Some deliveries can become complicated and initiation of breast feeding can be delayed, such as after cesarean section. Sometimes the condition of the mother or infant makes delay of early contact unavoidable, but this must be made the exception not the rule. C-section can often be preformed with local anesthesia; therefore breast-feeding can be initiated immediately after birth. If general anesthesia is necessary breast-feeding must be initiated within just a few hours.

Using pain relievers and anesthesia during labor and delivery have been shown in recent studies to cause breast-feeding problems. This is because these medications have been found to affect the baby’s suckling behavior after birth.  So, even if early contact is established, infant’s natural sucking behavior patterns have been changed when medications are given to the mother during labor and delivery.

A group of mothers studied by Righard and Alade had been administered the painkiller Pethidine during labor. Within two hours of delivery the infant’s breast-feeding behavior was observed. They were found to be less likely to suckle correctly or to suckle at all, compared to babies born to mothers who didn’t receive Pethidine.

The issue of integrating humane, non-medicalized, evidence based birthing practices as being necessary within the work of promoting, protecting and supporting breast-feeding was emphasized in the workshops at the WABA Global Forum II.

It is stated in the Global Criteria for the WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative that:

Mothers in the maternity ward who have had normal vaginal deliveries should confirm that with in a half hour of birth they were given their babies to hold with skin contact, for at least 30 minutes, and offered help by a staff member to initiate breast-feeding… At least 50% of mothers who have had cesarean deliveries should confirm that with in a half hour of being able to respond, they were given their babies to hold with skin contact.

This statement expresses the importance of initiation of breast-feeding within the first 30 minutes after normal delivery and as soon as possible after C-section.