Laurie I just "shared the bill" with Kittie Frantz (NNP) at LLL-Wisconsin
(Yo, Milwaukee!) and she not only practices this, she teaches it to the MD
residents who go through her training (as they all must ....) at her
hospital in California.

I learned a LOT (as I do at every conference, I swear).  She
describes Baby's first, deep post-delivery, post-first-s2s-BF nap as
"transition sleep."  The Baby's vital signs are stabilizing, while his
little body figures out how to re-route allthat blood and oxygen from the
umbilical cord to the lungs instead.  I loved her descriptive:  "It is
like landing an airplane, but then putting the engines into reverse."  The
residents at her hospital, who do the examinations and evaluations on the
newborns, are NOT allowed to do them while they are in transition sleep.
Whoo Hoo!

The best place for the transition sleep is s2s, because it helps to regulate
the heart beat, temperature and breathing, and the baby's cortisol/stress
levels stay LOW.  Of course, that laid back position helps facilitate feeds
when the baby does start to stir .. and critically, the baby is NOT
swaddled, meaning his arms and hands are free to "cycle" which is an
important part of the waking mechanism.

I struggle with this at my hospital: nurses and docs getting all fretty if
the baby -- who did a bang-up job of BF in the delivery room -- is now
snuggled happily on Mom's chest, and is in a long nap at about Hour 11 or 12
of life.  They want to intervene, and get pumps going, and they freak the
poor mom out ("WHAT?!?!  NO BF yet ?!?!? Lactation, STAT!").  Sigh.

-- 
Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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