Introduction
The first hour of life is immediate, a few hours soon after the child is born or out of the womb. The first hour immediately after birth is a very crucial and sensitive period for both the baby and the mother, as it is the transformation of the baby from life in the womb to life in the outside world. This is the time that triggers the newborn babies and their mothers to bond naturally with each other. Evidence shows that there is a need to strive to overcome all physical barriers and a need to be bound to be with one another on skin-to-skin contact immediately for the first hour after birth. It was also seen that the infants were placed skin-to-skin with their mothers, striving to be much healthier and more intuitive.
What Happens in the First Hour of Life?
In the early period of the child’s life, soon after birth, the baby is placed near the mother to be breastfed. This is done by placing the child's skin-to-skin with the mother. This period is considered to be a very vulnerable time as the newborns struggle to live, and this phenomenon of placing the child to its mother safeguards the infant from dying but rather replenishes it to live actively. Today, almost all children are placed next to their mothers immediately after birth, which is considered a progression that has gradually increased over the period in the last fifteen years with an average rise in the percentage of fourteen percent.
This factor is considered to be important because it is a natural process that is seen with modification and level of growth in the later stages of life. This time also signifies the fact that the baby is now supposed to thrive on its own as the food supply it was receiving from the mother's womb is now cut off once it is out in the external environment. The first hour of life also establishes proper methods of breathing, alteration in the circulation pattern of blood, onset of food intake through the mouth, modification of the body temperature, and flowing and clotting of blood. However, the factor that triggers the incidence of first breath is quite difficult to understand and has not been entirely studied.
How Can the First Hour of Life Be Managed?
The first hour of life can be brought into a smooth transition by handling labor well during its first and second stages. Although the third stage of any delivery is directly connected with the movement of the child, certain factors like delayed clamping of the cord enable the child to get more red and hematopoietic stem cells from the placenta and also an increase in the lung function with up to thirty percent of the blood volume. These blood particles move into the lungs of the infant, altering the cardiac output up to eight to ten percent when in the uterus and up to forty-five percent when outside, especially when the body needs more blood once after birth.
There are certain duties for a midwife to perform here, and they are:
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The midwife should be prepared for the immediate series of actions soon after the birth.
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The midwife is supposed to give the newborn adequate time for all these physiological adjustments, and hence, it is their duty to wait for a few minutes and observe the child.
However, care should be taken not to trigger the baby or disrupt this process, as it can dramatically reflect the physiological changes taking place.
What Is the Significance of Breastfeeding?
Breastfeeding during the first hour of life is very significant in improving the survival rate of the infant. This is because there is a positive effect on the child's brain during lactation, improving the infant's health as well as being in contact with the mother. When the baby sucks milk from its mother straight from the mother, there is stimulation and secretion of hormones like oxytocin and prolactin that helps with the production and secretion of milk. Here, the oxytocin released also helps the mother to go into internal bleeding, thus benefiting both the mother and the child. The skin-to-skin contact during breastfeeding helps the child bond more with the mother, acquiring the mother's body microbiome and thriving through it as an acquired immunity.
Conclusion
Separating the mother from the newborn can be harmful to the child due to the lack of heat from the mother’s skin to the child. Hence, it is necessary that both the mother's and the child’s body heat is synchronized, and this skin-to-skin practice saves energy that is used to stabilize the breathing and heart rates. According to the WHO (World Health Organization) and the United Nations children’s fund, it is recommended that all mothers and babies should be kept together regardless of the feeding choices without any interruption, at least for an hour, for better results and living of the newborn. As this reaction of the newborn is mutually sensitive for both the child and the mother, it is often seen as a pre-programmed behavior to increase the survival rate. Also, the skin-to-skin interaction of the newborn and the mother soon after birth enables the skin of the newborn to colonize within the mother's body microbiome, enabling and regulating a body temperature, as well as improving and stabilizing the blood sugar level and establishing a proper functioning of the heart.
