Cindy,
My husband is an ambulance paramedic and just yesterday had a baby born at
home to transport to hospital. Baby was crying when they arrived, he got the
mum to hold the baby skin-to-skin at the breast and he just snuggled in and
was calm. Didn't suckle but when they arrived at the hospital and mum took
baby from the breast to cover herself up he started crying again....funny
that!  I think it's a good idea to give them some idea of just how to
provide the skin-to-skin (ie baby upright between the breasts), that was
something my husband had not thought about and the reason why the mum felt
she needed to remove the baby and cover up.
I'll paste in some text out of a paper I've just submitted below....there's
more than temperature regulation involved (and this is just the baby, the
impact on the mother is also significant).
It should also be emphasised to these emergency workers that encouraging
suckling is a very good idea. In fact it should be considered a medical
intervention when they are in a situation where they do not have the
standard medical interventions that midwives/hospitals have available. Not
long ago my husband delivered a baby and suggested to the mum that she put
the baby to the breast. She declined. When they arrived at the hospital the
midwives wanted to know if he'd given her some syntocinin. Of course he
hadn't.....they don't use it! Thus, in these situations breastfeeding should
be considered a medical intervention to aid delivery of the placenta and to
prevent bleeding. It's one thing to suggest to a mum that it would be nice
for her to put baby top the breast, it's another thing altogether to say
that it's a necessary "intervention"
Karleen Gribble
Australia

Skin-to-skin contact between mother and child is the utmost in physical
closeness. In newborns, maternal skin-to-skin contact is often facilitated
via a method called kangaroo care in which the naked infant is held upright
between the mother’s breasts under her clothing. In babies, skin-to-skin
contact reduces stress hormone release (Mooncey, Giannakoulopouloa, Glover,
Acolet & Modi 1997), reduces blood pressure (Anderson, 1989), stabilises
blood glucose levels (Christensson, Siles, Moreno, Belaustequi, De La
Fuente, Lagercrantz, Puyol & Winberg 1992), acts as an analgesic (Gray, Watt
& Blass 2000) and aids neurobehavioural self-regulation (Ferber & Makhoul
2004). Temperature and respiration rates of babies are stabilised by
skin-to-skin contact with their mother (Acolet, Sleath & Whitelaw 1989;
Ludington-Hoe, Hashemi, Argote, Medellin & Rey 1991; Christensson et al.
1992).

  MOONCEY S, GIANNAKOULOPOULOS X, GLOVER V, ACOLET D & MODI N (1997), The
effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on plasma cortisol and
β-endorphin concentrations in preterm newborns. Infant Behavior and
Development, 20, 553-557.
ANDERSON GC (1989), Risk in mother-infant separation postbirth. Image:
Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 21, 196-199.CHRISTENSSON K, CABRERA T,
CHRISTENSSON E, UVNAS-MOBERG K & WINBERG J (1995), Separation distress call
in the human neonate in the absence of maternal body contact. Acta
Paediatrica, 84, 468-473.
GRAY L, WATT L & BLASS E (2000), Skin-to-skin contact is analgesic in
healthy newborns. Pediatrics, 105, e14.
FERBER SG, LAUDON M, KUINT J, WELLER A & ZISAPEL N (2002), Massage therapy
by mothers enhances the adjustment of circadian rhythms to the nocturnal
period in full-term infants. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral
Pediatrics, 23, 410-415.
ACOLET D, SLEATH K & WHITELAW A (1989), Oxygenation, heart rate and
temperature in very low birthweight infants during skin-to-skin contact with
their mothers. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica, 78, 189-193.
LUDINGTON-HOE SM, HASHEMI MS, ARGOTE LA, MEDELLIN G & REY H (1992), Selected
physiologic measures and behavior during paternal skin contact with
Colombian preterm infants. Journal of Developmental Physiology, 18, 223-32.

>
> I have been searching for an article to give to the local rescue squad
that
> backs up if they go out on a call and they do a delivery or the delivery
has
> already occurred how important it is to put baby skin to skin with mom to
> maintain the babies temp. They bundle the babies and bring them to the
> hospital that way and they are cold. But before they will change practice,
> they need "proof" that baby would be warmer and so much better off to be
> skin to skin with mom with a hat on and covered with mom. can anyone
please
> direct me to such an article.. Thanks!

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