The birth of our children is a crucial moment in the lives of parents and babies, and it should be a respected and supported moment by all the agents involved in the process, something that does not always happen. That is why we like to echo initiatives like this, respectful of children and families.
The Pro Rights of the Birth Platform established June 7 as World Birth Rights Day.
We have been informing you for a long time about this platform and its decalogue of rights, a platform constituted by a group of people, professionals from various fields, parents, whose objectives are to ensure that our children enter the world in the least traumatic way possible.
We recall on this occasion some principles of the World Health Organization about perinatal care and recommendations for establishing good contact between mother and child:
Regarding birth:
- Place the baby on the mother's abdomen and dry it immediately. Encourage the mother to participate. Remove that towel and cover the mother and child with a second towel that is dry.
- Cut the cord once the pulsations of the cord have stopped while the baby is with his mother, as long as there is no significant bleeding.
- Encourage maternal skin-to-skin care with your baby for at least the first two hours after delivery, as well as everything possible during the immediate postpartum period and subsequently. We have already commented widely on the benefits of early mother-baby contact.
Promote breastfeeding:
- Encourage feeding to the child when he is showing signs that he is ready to receive it, showing salivation, oral movements, putting his hands to his mouth and moving towards his mother's breast. Do not force feeding until the baby is ready.
- Do not separate the baby from his mother in the first hours after delivery. Try to perform all necessary exams for the normal newborn in the mother's bed, instead of using a separate examining table.
- Delay the performance of exams that are not necessary. Perform exams with mother and child together; delay bath time for 6 hours or more.
- Delay the prophylaxis of gonococcal conjunctivitis by applying an ointment in the eyes of the newborn, to prevent visual contact between mother and child is altered.
Recommendations for postpartum care, which should also promote mother - child contact and breastfeeding:
- Follow the guidelines of the Amigo del Niño Hospital Initiative for infant feeding: encourage the exclusivity of breastfeeding on demand from birth and avoid any baby supplements containing water, glucose, or breast milk substitutes.
- Offer joint accommodation for all mothers and babies 24 hours a day.
- Encourage skin-to-skin contact during the postpartum stay in the hospital.
As we see, these are important considerations that we take to remember and spread today June 7, World Birth Rights Day, as we do many other days from our blog.
