Immediate or early skin‐to‐skin contact after a C aesarean section: a review of the literature
Open accessAbstract
The W orld H ealth O rganization and the U nited N ations I nternational C hildren's E mergency F und recommends that mothers and newborns have skin‐to‐skin contact immediately after a vaginal birth, and as soon as the mother is alert and responsive after a C aesarean section. Skin‐to‐skin contact can be defined as placing a naked infant onto the bare chest of the mother. C aesarean birth is known to reduce initiation of breastfeeding, increase the length of time before the first breastfeed, reduce the incidence of exclusive breastfeeding, significantly delay the onset of lactation and increase the likelihood of supplementation. The aim of this review is to evaluate evidence on the facilitation of immediate (within minutes) or early (within 1 h) skin‐to‐skin contact following C aesarean section for healthy mothers and their healthy term newborns, and identify facilitators, barriers and associated maternal and newborn outcomes. A range of electronic databases were searched for papers reporting research findings published in E nglish between J anuary 2003 and O ctober 2013. Seven papers met the criteria. This review has provided some evidence that with appropriate collaboration skin‐to‐skin contact during C aesarean surgery can be implemented. Further evidence was provided, albeit limited, that immediate or early skin‐to‐skin contact after a C aesarean section may increase breastfeeding initiation, decrease time to the first breastfeed, reduce formula supplementation in hospital, increase bonding and maternal satisfaction, maintain the temperature of newborns and reduce newborn stress.
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Skin-to-skin cesarean births are the exception rather than the norm, and translating knowledge into routine practice for scheduled cesarean births has been challenging.
“Despite a push to increase skin-to-skin contact after cesarean birth (skin-to-skin cesarean birth),23–25 such births are the exception rather than the norm, since translating this knowledge into routine practice for scheduled cesarean births has been challenging.”
From Women’s experiences of skin-to-skin cesarean birth compared to standard cesarean birth: a qualitative study (2021) · cites this paper as [24]
Cites
Postpartum anxiety and maternal-infant health outcomes
Paul, I. M., Downs, D. S., Schaefer, E. W., Beiler, J. S., & Weisman, C. S. (2013) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2012-2147 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Sword, W., Kurtz Landy, C., Thabane, L., Watt, S., Krueger, P., Farine, D., & Foster, G. (2011) · BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology · doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2011.02950.x · Cited by 157 · cited 1× · see citing works
“There is some evidence that there is a relationship between having a Caesarean section © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Maternal and Child Nutrition (2014), 10, pp. 456–473 and depressive symptomatology (Xie et al. 2011; Zainal et al. 2012); however, Sword et al. (2011) provides conflicting evidence.”
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Breastfeeding practices in an Australian tertiary care hospital: A retrospective study
Vasilevski, V., Arnold, T., Halliday, K., Hughes, J., Dwyer, N., & Sweet, L. (2021) · Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare · doi:10.1016/j.srhc.2021.100671 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Machold, C. A., O’Rinn, S. E., McKellin, W. H., Ballantyne, G., & Barrett, J. F. R. (2021) · CMAJ Open · doi:10.9778/cmajo.20200079 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- Stevens, J., Schmied, V., Burns, E., & Dahlen, H.
- Affiliations
- Western Sydney University (AU)
- Venue
- Maternal & Child Nutrition
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-04-10
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 456-473
- ISSN
- 1740-8695 (ISSN-L)
- 1740-8709
- PMC
- PMC6860199
- OpenAlex
- W1555283314
- Cited by
- 216
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 12
- FWCI
- 2.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Maternal and Child Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Western Sydney
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Breastfeeding Practices and Influences
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Development and Preterm Care
- Keywords
- skin-to-skin contact, cesarean section, breastfeeding initiation, early initiation of breastfeeding, term infants, formula supplementation, maternal satisfaction, neonatal thermoregulation, barriers and facilitators
- MeSH terms
- Breast Feeding, Cesarean Section, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Mother-Child Relations, Object Attachment, Pregnancy, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
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