Giving birth is no easy feat but as a mother there are some things you should do right after your child is born as it is what is best for the baby.

Contact

Hold your baby skin-to-skin on your chest immediately after the child is born. Even before the child is cleaned you should be the first to hold him/ her as this has an immense amount of benefits. This sort of contact is also known as ‘Kangaroo care’ and is both a means of bonding and calming the baby. It helps because the baby is scared and alone and has just been through a difficult ordeal not only that but it has been separated from the one thing it knew and was most familiar with (the womb of its mother) and is now in a different world of sorts, so you absolutely need to hold your baby because the infant needs you!

And you should not let the doctor take your child away from you the instant after birth, unless something is wrong with the child. The hospital generally only separates babies from their mothers so that they can care for mother and baby separately not because the baby needs any special care, other than a baby with medical issue there is no need for immediate separation. Skin-to-skin care seems to improve the baby’s ability to breastfeed and even reduces the amount the child might cry, it additionally keeps the infants breathing, oxygen and heart-rate stable, and it also reduces the mother’s anxiety levels and increases their state of happiness.The World Health Organization actually recommends that all new-borns receive skin-to-skin care.

Cord- Clamping

It is best to wait several minutes before clamping and cutting the umbilical cord. Delayed cord- clamping allows more much needed nutrient-rich blood to be transferred from the placenta to the baby and prevents iron deficiency in the new-born. More iron means the baby will have healthy brain development and a reduced risk of all the side-effects associated with iron deficiency. It additionally results in the infusion of stem cells which aid the development of the respiratory, immune, cardiovascular and the central nervous system.

The World Health Organization recommends delayed cord clamping but the exact amount of time to wait in order to cut the cord is much debated about. Cutting the cord early doesn’t really have any known benefit yet is still practiced today without a valid reason, while delayed cord-clamping has numerous benefits.  If a baby is premature then delayed cord clamping may be the difference between life and death for the infant and it will give the baby better resilience and a fighting chance. It should be noted however that delaying the cord clamping with a caesarean birth may not always be possible.

So these are just two things that if taken care of right after birth will drastically impact the health of your new-born.